Ash's transformation
by In caverns dark
Summary: Ash has always been unusual. The way that he bonds so easily with Pokémon, the exposure that he's had to the Legendaries that most people spend their entire lives searching for, amongst other things. This is a story that explores what may happen if Ash were to find himself undergoing a Transformation, and what he would discover about the world as a result. An Ash TF Fic.
1. A 1

_This chapter follows the events of AG136 and deviates from there._

* * *

Ash's friends watched on as Ash tried his hardest to help his Pokémon. Knowing that trying to interfere would do little good. May had had an idea about teaching Ash about love but that turned out to be a very short and awkward lesson. Eventually Brock pulled her out and told her that Ash had things handled.

She looked at him, as Ash tried to get Sceptile to focus his energy into his arms to power up a leaf blade and asked the breeder "are you sure Brock?"

Forcing him to reply sternly "Yes".

"But he isn't exactly the most… well"

"Romantic?" Brock finished with a raised eyebrow, trying to keep his smirk hidden when he saw a slight blush on her cheeks.

"Well" she fidgeted, "_yes_. I thought he might have been able to understand, but… it's like I'm trying to talk to a brick wall if_ I_ talk about it."

"Well, he is ten years old."

May pouted, "but so am I. Max is seven and even he knows about romance" she explained to Brock, slightly relived that she finally had someone that she could talk to regarding the greatest mystery the world had ever known.

Brock was frozen for a moment, looking like he was watching Ash train his Pokémon "Max thinks that most girls are icky."

"But _that's_ natural" May told him. "Ash is, like, like… you know!" she said making several vague gestures with her hands, "and Drew helped, he tried to say-"

"May" Brock interrupted firmly, "what Drew did was wrong."

"But he's an expert coordinator, he-"

"May" Brock interrupted once more, "You have to understand. Ash isn't a coordinator, he's a trainer."

"What difference does that-"

"Ash is a trainer who values the bond between himself and his Pokémon _very_ highly." Brock explained "what Drew did was show Ash up in front of Sceptile, and to try and show Ash as a trainer who is incompetent. That will harm Ash's relationship with Sceptile." Brock sighed, at the worried expression that May now had, "Ash has to find out how to solve things on his own. If we interfere we will probably do more harm than good."

"But I'm sure he didn't mean to show Ash up, it was probably just an accident" May whispered.

"I'm sure" Brock said comforting May, knowing that what Drew did would have been deemed an inexcusable action in the eyes of other trainers and would have led to… well it's best not to mention such things. Drew was lucky that Ash was oblivious to such things as he was.

* * *

Ditto rushed through the bushes, trying its best to keep out of sight and get away from the people and the Pokémon that were looking for it. But no matter how hard it tried there was always something that got in its way, weather it was a stick, a stone or another stick, stuff kept getting in his way and let _them_ get closer and closer.

_They_ had kept Ditto in the dark and secret place and didn't even give Ditto any sunlight or… well, almost anything really. All they did give Ditto was some sticky stuff from the pointy stick that made Ditto want to transform. But no matter how much he wanted to transform he couldn't because there was nothing to transform into! He couldn't even transform into _them_ because the shiny energy cave was too small, and they were too big and you couldn't put big into small unless you were a Chansey with indigestion.

But then they put Ditto onto the shaky floor that went "Bruuuuummm" and the shiny walls went "Blink!" and then they went "blink" again, and Ditto thought they looked very pretty when they were blinking because they didn't blink often (or _ever_ even) and because when they blinked they couldn't stop him from transforming if the big people came so he could get away and….

Well that's what Ditto _wanted_ to do. To wait until someone (somemon?) came to him so that he could transform into them and then run away as them. But Ditto found the blinky walls to be _so_ pretty (because the walls never used to blink) that Ditto had to get a closer look and when that happened Ditto fell through the walls and realised that he could run. So he ran away, then kept on running away, and then fell over a twig.

But no matter how hard he tried to run away the forest was big. Heck, it was bigger than big! and looked like no Minccino had come over to clean it up in days, but Ditto didn't stop running because the people were _bad_, always putting stuff into Ditto no matter how much Ditto wanted them to stop.

Even the Pokémon were bad, always saying mean things. Ditto tried to be nice and asked to Pokémon if they wanted to be friends, but they said… they didn't like Ditto.

_Now_ Ditto didn't want to be friends with them, Ditto just wanted to get away.

But as Ditto walked through the forest he heard a crash in the distance and froze. _Was it them_?

"Come on, Sceptile, just focus?" a distant voice called out, as Ditto wondered what a Sceptile _actually_ was.

But then Ditto's mind froze, wondering if it should transform and hide and… Ditto looked around to find that it's gooey legs had moved without Ditto even telling them to move and that Ditto was now somewhere different, somewhere, "Tile, scep" uh oh.

Ditto quickly turned into the easiest thing it could hide as, and changed its colour to brown, and then looked at the things that were making the noise.

It looked like a boy and his… a, er, what was it?

"Tile, Sceptile" yeah, _that_. There was also a Pikachu, and other Pokémon who were running around and using attacks.

But the boy was trying to talk to the Sceptile who looked sad. Making Ditto wonder if they had an argument that got out of hand.

They looked like they were training and they didn't stop for a long time, and Ditto just sat and watched as they tried to help Sceptile. They would try to get him to do battling, they would try to play games, and sometimes when it looked like the Sceptile was really sad the human told them to have a time-out and gave Sceptile some rest and quiet whilst he got his other Pokémon to try and do some moves so that Sceptile could do the watching.

Ditto knew that it was very nice of them to do this for their friend that looked really sad. Mainly because Ditto never had much friends, or at least it didn't have any friends after the bad ones took him away and put him into the cage. Ditto couldn't really remember much of what happened before it was put in the cage; it all seemed _blurry_ and far away.

But Ditto wished it could have the boy as his friend, _he_ didn't look like one of the bad people.

But then as Ditto was thinking this the boy who now looked tired walked over towards Ditto and put his hat onto a plastic table that was a safe distance away from where the Pokémon were sparring.

The boy picked up a bottle of water and began to slowly drink it, but Ditto seeing an opportunity rushed forward to the table, making sure to keep hidden.

Before the boy had finished Ditto had climbed up the table, threw the hat away and transformed itself into an exact copy of the hat, happy now that it had found a way to both keep hidden from the bad ones that were coming after it and stay close to the nice boy, it was like they were already friends!

But the best bit was that it was _so_ comfy, sitting there on top of his head, letting his hair tickle him as he walked back to his Pokémon, going up and down and up and down with the motion of his legs.

It was nice, and Ditto began to feel a little sleepy, a little…

* * *

Ash really wanted to know just what was wrong with Sceptile. What in the world had happened?

He knew that his Pokémon wanted to be with the Meganium, but couldn't because Meganium wanted Tropius. That much was obvious. But no matter how much Ash tried to talk with Sceptile about what was wrong, or how much he tried to help, nothing seemed to work.

It didn't even make much sense that his Grass type attacks would just stop working because of all this. How in the world was _that_ possible!

He looked down to his Pokémon. Pikachu and Torkoal sparring to try and find a way to increase Torkoal's reaction times so that he could target Pikachu who was running around.

They weren't really putting in much effort. They were too worried about Sceptile.

Sceptile who was sitting down on the grass. Alone and far away from the rest of the Pokémon, looking down at the ground, appearing utterly crushed.

Ash felt his heart sink, there had to be something that he could do. There HAD to be _something_.

Before he knew it his hat was back on his head and he was walking over to his Pokémon.

When he was beside Sceptile the grass type didn't make any motion, or give any acknowledgement to his trainers presence as Ash sat down beside him.

Sceptile braced himself for the words of his trainer, probably something about overcoming obstacles or trying harder, but only heard silence. He turned towards Ash who was looking off into the distance.

"You know, I remember the first time I hit a wall that I couldn't get over." His trainer said, "do you want to hear what happened?"

Sceptile nodded, weary at what speech his trainer was trying to give.

"Well it was my first ever gym badge and, well, me and Pikachu were really stoked to get it, ya know? But when we got into the gym things went downhill from the start." Sceptile raised an eyebrow, "You see Brock was the Gym leader back then and from the moment we went in we were demolished, he didn't give us a single chance."

Ash paused, "I didn't know what to do." He whispered, "Pikachu, Pidgeotto and Butterfree all of them counted on me to help them and I felt like I screwed up… badly. I didn't have anyone who I could ask for help, I didn't know what to do" he sighed and looked off into the distance.

"Then this man came and showed me what it was like for Brock back at his home, and I found out that he had a ton of little brothers and sisters that he had to take care of because his parents ran away, leaving him to take care of the Gym _and_ the house _and_ the family." Sceptile looked towards the breeder, wondering what the human went through in his life that none of his fellow Pokémon knew about, "I also found out later that he couldn't go to chase his dream to be a Pokémon Breeder because he had to stay at home."

Ash stood up, "Even now I don't think I can understand the things Brock had to do for his family, but I'm glad things are better now." Ash looked Sceptile in the eyes, "and whenever things get bad, I know that there's no point in giving up, because Brock didn't give up for ages and still managed to get through. So come on Sceptile, I haven't given up on you," and exhaled "please don't give up on yourself."

He began to walk away, knowing deep down that there was nothing more that he could say to his Pokémon. Sceptile knew what he had to do and what would work best for him; all Ash could do is stand by him when he made that decision.

Ash's Pokémon stopped when he walked up to them, ready to hear what he had to say. But to their disappointment he only told them to move to the target range and provided no news of Sceptile's condition.

But, listening to their trainer they moved quickly and managed to get to an area opposite a set of boulders that would serve as their targets.

Ash looked around and saw May getting ready for her next contest while Brock fed Bonsly with Max watching on. Then turned to his own Pokémon, happy when he recognised that Sceptile was now amongst them.

He began, looking briefly at Sceptile who had taken up his position in the line "All right guys let's start with something simple this time" and commanded "Now! Donphan use Rollout" which the Pokémon did to crush a boulder, then "Corphish Bubblebeam!" which split up the flying pieces of rock, then shouted "Sceptile Bulletseed!" But when Sceptile opened his mouth nothing came out.

Ash and his Pokémon stared on in shock and disappointment as Sceptile, frustrated, pounded the ground with his fists. Then stopped, got back up looking even more determined and opened his mouth with a look of fierce determination only to have nothing came out once more. But he still wasn't going to give up.

He tried again, getting angrier and angrier, until a flash went through him and he screamed in despair. Why didn't she choose him!

Sceptile felt his friends draw nearer, worried about him. But _he_ didn't want any of this, none of it and ran into the forest, hearing the fading voice of his trainer calling out his name.

With his blind dash Sceptile was quickly lost amongst the woods. He felt like he wanted to break down, like he wanted the world to just fall apart around him. Then he walked up to a tree and began to bash his head against it again and again and again as his heart screamed in absolute anguish. Giving up only when the pain became too much for him to handle.

He collapsed to his knees, hearing the sound of his trainer coming towards him. Pikachu probably following close by. Why did the boy have to be so caring? Didn't he understand! What Legendary thought it would be funny to give his trainer such a big heart? The monsters. But before Sceptile could curse the heavens any more his trainer was already beside him

"Sceptile" Ash whispered and as he looked at his Pokémon who appeared utterly defeated, he felt his heart tear in two.

He got on his knees, wanting to say something, yet knowing that he couldn't say anything. He just couldn't. There were no words that could fix this, there were no words that he could remember helping him when he felt like this, when he felt like wanting to hide in the corner and cry and kick the world as hard as you could because you were just so utterly broken.

But Sceptile just sat there for a long time, his knees bent and his head up against the tree trunk, and every time that Ash seemed to find the courage to speak something choked up inside him, turning his words into empty air.

But then the forest was filled with the sound of a heavy buzz.

Sceptile, Ash and Pikachu twisted their head, seeing the moment that a swarm of raging Beedrill crashed through the canopy ripping them out of their moment and into a panicked fight for survival.

With split second reactions Ash ordered Pikachu to launch a Thiunderbolt which stopped the Beedrill in their tracks.

But the buzzing didn't stop as another group burst out from the trees, falling one by one as Pikachu peppered them with as many thunderbolts as he could let off.

Ash turned to Sceptile, who looked angry at the swarm for coming here, and resentful at the fact that he couldn't do anything due to his disadvantage.

He then looked to Pikachu who was slowly moving back to keep his distance from the constant attackers, and then it all became clear to Ash so he cried "Sceptile, Pikachu we have to go, now!" to his Pokémon, motioning away from the swarm and then taking off when he knew his Pokémon had seen him.

But the buzzing never stopped, as they wove through branches and tree trunks and a dozen bushes lined with thorns, every time that Ash turned around the Beedrill were behind him, giving chase.

Then the forest suddenly became sparse and forced Ash into a stop, his mind screaming against his running legs as he skidded to a halt at the edge of a cliff, his eyes peeing downwards to the raging and roaring rapids at the base that drowned out the sound of the swarm.

He felt the presence of his Pokémon stop behind him, then "Buzz!" the sound flew past his ear, making him flinch.

"Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!" the Beedrill's wings cried as they zipped past the trainer. He turned around to see the swarm still coming, and without hesitation roared, "Pikachu Thunderbolt!" once more to try and halt their progress.

But they managed to zipp past the attacks, uncaring of their own safety against the beams of lightning that ripped through their comrades. Ash quickly moved himself in front of Sceptile, knowing that the grass type was weak against any poison type attacks they had.

They flew past as quickly as they came; leaving a gush of wind in their wake, but then came the stinging pain. His heart stopped and Ash wrapped his arms around himself as the burning sensation spread through his veins, threatening to boil him from the inside.

Sceptile turned to his trainer, broken out of his trance, noticing the streaks of read that now scared his trainer's body from the tip of his head, the stingers having not cared about his clothes from his hat to his jeans. Ash was shaking, he was poisoned. And as Sceptile turned to see another wave of Beedrill come in towards his trainer he jumped into their path, spun his back to them and slammed them out of the way with his tail.

They would NOT get past him.

Another wave came, having gotten past Pikachu's non stop attacks.

But as soon as Sceptile knocked them away with the only attack he could use more took their place and pounded Sceptile back and back and back, leaving no point on the grass type untouched by their sharp needles.

Ash fumbled for Sceptile's Pokéball, seeing Pikachu beside him having been pushed back himself.

Then before he knew it the world turned sideways, Ash felt Sceptile on top of him, the ground under him disappear, his _world_ become filled with the feeling of Vertigo as the raging sound of battle turned into a vast whiteness.

Crash!

The river slammed into the trainer, ripping him into its current, tossing and turning him along its twists and turns before he could even register what was happening, but when his head managed to surface it all clicked together, and he flailed his arms, Pokéball dropping out of his hand, as he tried to stay afloat.

His back slammed into a rock, sending a hammer of pain up his spine, his mouth opening in a soundless scream, the water began to pull at him, sending him to the side and back into its raging current.

"Grab the rock!" a voice shouted, as he tried to regain focus, "The rock, grab it, quickly!"

Ash sprang into action, just as the river had managed to pull him away and managed to open his eyes against the spray of cold water that battered his face, as he tried to get a view of his surroundings.

He saw the form of Sceptile rushing down towards him and reached out to his Pokémon, grasping Sceptile's arm, and holding onto it with all the strength he could muster, grinding his teeth, pushing against the pull of the rapids. Freezing out of shock when Pikachu was pulled downstream in front of him.

"PikaPi!" His Pokémon cried as he stared dumbly, both of his arms already being put to use, unable to do anything as his best friend washed away, out of Sceptile's reach.

"We'll find you buddy" He cried with all of his heart, wanting desperately to just let go of the rock and swim after his best friend.

"PikaPi!" he heard his Pokémon cried once more, fading off into the distance.

But before the despair in his heart managed to force him to let go of the rock, another voice shouted "Hold on!" forcing him to stay where he was attached to the rock. As his world was filled with the sound of raging water.

Then everything seemed to fall into a strange silence, his body was cold as if frozen and the battering torrent of water seemed to be far away. He didn't feel Sceptile climb up his body, and onto the rock as his mind slowly drifted away, little by little, into nothingness.

* * *

Ash looked around, trying to find the thing that he was looking for. It was nearby and he knew, deep down that something was wrong with it; that it needed his help.

His searching quickly took him to a bright shade of pink that was nestled amongst the landscape, sharp and noticeable. Certainly odd amongst everything else that was here.

As he got closer Ash realised that this _thing_ was a Ditto, trying to curl in on itself and hide. It sounded sad, and when it saw Ash it gave off a frightened squeak of surprise.

Ash felt his heart sink as he looked at the frightened Pokémon and knelt down to comfort it.

"Hey little guy" he said in his softest voice "what's wrong"

The Ditto whimpered a little before turning to look at Ash with sad eyes and said "Ditt- Di- I'm sorry" shocking Ash into silence for a moment before he realised that he shouldn't be surprised by now at the idea of talking Pokémon.

"What are you sorry for?" Ash asked once more, bringing one hand to what was the Pokémon's face to turn it towards him.

"Y-you hate me" the Ditto said, as Ash raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"and why would I hate you?"

"Because I stopped you. From swimming after your friend." The Ditto answered sombrely. "But, but I couldn't let you let go, it was too dangerous and you wouldn't have made it and, and I was scared." The Pokémon rambled before breaking down in front of the trainer, "_all_ I wanted was a friend, and _you_ looked very nice and now_,_ and now I did this and you _hate_ me." Ditto cried, weeping tears of despair. "I don't want to be alone."

But Ash watched on frozen, his hand halfway between his side and the Pokémon. He had no idea what made the Pokémon so sad, but realised that he should try and fix whatever was broken.

He wrapped his arms around the Ditto and, brought the Pokémon into a comforting hug, whispering a soothing _shush_ as he rocked the Ditto in his arms. The Pokémon continued to vent it's frustrations about how they shouldn't even be able to talk to each other or something.

Eventually the Ditto stopped and looked over to Ash, wondering why the boy hadn't runaway or been angry or made fun of him like those others did when he was with _them_ but Ash softly told the Pokémon "I don't hate you" with a gentle smile to Ditto's surprise.

"Why?"

"Because from what you said, you didn't do anything bad on purpose. You just wanted to help, didn't you?" Ditto nodded, "see, there's nothing wrong with that, I'm sure we can fix whatever bad that happened."

Ditto looked nervous as it asked, "so you don't hate me?"

"No" Ash replied with a smile that grew a little wider as Ditto seemed to cheer up.

"And would you want to be my friend?" the Pokémon asked, bursting with excitement.

"Of course!" Ash said as Ditto launched itself to return the hug that the trainer was giving him with all its heart, murmuring thank you into his chest repeatedly.

But then Ditto looked up at Ash with a worried expression and said, "There's another problem"

"What's that" Ash asked.

"I'm changing" came Ditto's strange reply as the Pokémon continued, "You're different than others and I'm different too, but we're friends so we'll be together." Then as the Pokémon looked Ash in the eyes and said "thank you." Then disappeared leaving only pink blobs of goo wherever it had touched Ash on his arms and chest.

The Pokémon trainer looked around confused, wondering where his new friend had gone, and was surprised to find the strange sight of a glass of water on the floor where he had originally found Ditto. He looked at it and felt slightly unnerved by its deep blue colour, feeling as if by looking into it, he was looking into a body of water that was deeper than that which the glass could hold, like an ocean or a river. Flowing and infinite.

Crash, came the sounds of the rapids whirling all about him, ripping the silence around him and shocking him to his core. His heart jumped in his chest as if struck by lightning and his arms began to burn liquid fire. It stung, it stung all over, like a thousand angry Beedrill writhing under his skin.

He looked at the glass and saw the water burst out like out of a fire hydrant, smashing into his face and pushing him back, going down his nose and throat, as thick as goo, ripping him apart, tearing him to pieces. With a flash of light he blinked out of consciousness.

* * *

Ash opened his eyes, feeling completely exhausted from his trials in the river and forest and looked around to try and find out where he was. He looked across from him, and there in a sitting position slept Sceptile, his back against a boulder. Ash made an effort to look around and discovered that they were still near to the bank of the river, although at a higher elevation that was covered in soft dirt and safe from being waterlogged by mischievous water types.

Sceptile had probably bought him here after he blacked out in the river and gave the still dazed trained a new appreciation for the grass type grow in his heart. One that came from the understanding that his Pokémon had rescued him, had helped get him out of the rapids even tough he could have just tried to wake him up to try and get out himself. Sceptile cared for him as much as he cared for Sceptile. Ash realised that Sceptile didn't feel as if he was just another Pokémon who stuck with a foolish master as Charizard had, but rather stuck with a foolish trainer who he deeply cared about.

All of a sudden Ash's worry about Sceptile's inability to use grass type moves faded away. They would stick through this together, and because of _that_ they'd be able to overcome anything that might try to stop them.

Ash rolled to his side and pushed himself up, his arms and legs feeling weak, weaker than he could ever remember them feeling but with enough effort he managed to get himself up onto his knees.

As he sat he waited for the cobwebs of yesterdays escapade to slowly fade away, but after they did he realised just how _odd_ he felt. Like everything was so far away, and yet it was as if everything was so much sharper. The feeling of his clothes rubbing against him, the hardness of the dirt pushing every fibre into his knees, the bizarre sensation of his shoes.

He decided that the fall must have mixed him up more than he realised. But then remembered the strange dream he had had, something about a Pokémon that needed his help. It must have been... something important? He couldn't remember.

He listened for the sound of water, hoping to get to the river to freshen up, and the moment he heard the sound of the river that had assaulted him yesterday he began no move towards it. Only to find that his limbs were more worn out than he had hoped, leading him to stumble down the small slope to the edge of the water.

He stopped halfway, realising in a small part of his mind that he shouldn't be _this_ exhausted. He's faced tough situations before and none of them hurt like this. This sensation was different from any pain he'd felt before, deeper, filling every inch of him with a strange churning feeling. Maybe it was a powerful fever, he didn't remember many fevers that he had because he was asleep for most of them, but this would be what he imagined it might feel like for other people who had stayed awake.

Eventually his struggle brought him to the river where he scooped up the water and splashed it onto his face.

The cold water helped wake him up but he continued to feel weaker by the second.

He looked at his reflection, noticing that his hat had managed to stay on his head. Ha! Take that forces of the universe! You can take away my sanity, but you'll never take away my hat!

Grinning, he tried to lift it off to wash his hair but for some reason it seemed to be stuck on. Wondering if Max put super glue onto the base whilst he wasn't looking he moved his fingers to the sides to take it off another way. But as his fingers brushed upwards, his hat began to split as if it was made out of hair and let his fingers run through.

Then the colours began to change to pink, and the hair like strips began to appear like strands of goo. Ash panicked and began to hyperventilate, his mind was frozen and his eyes clenched shut.

Then they opened in shock when he realised just how painfully weak his arms felt and he brought his hands in front of his face. Now noticing that they weren't his _hands_, no his hands looked nothing like this! These things were curled up. Not the sharp straight segments that were supported by his bones but boneless... like an Octillary's tentacles.

He closed his eyes, rejecting everything that he saw with his own eyes as the work of the river after it tossed him left and right. He remembered Brock's warnings about spending too long in the water and realised that _this_ was probably the same thing he was talking about. Like those things… mirages that he saw when they walked through the desert that one time.

His breathing slowly relaxed as his small panic attack subsided, so when he opened his eyes once more his reflection showed that his hat and hair were where they were supposed to be, as they were supposed to be. Then he looked at his fingers, moving each one individually to find that they moved like a normal person's fingers should, every piece.

But the burning sensation persisted, running through every limb, was this the cause of his hallucinations? He shook his head, as a flash back of the Beedrill attack rushed back to him. Pikachu was still out there somewhere and staying here wouldn't help Pikachu at all, even if he was sure that Pikachu could handle himself, he had to make sure that his best friend was safe.

Then the dots connected themselves. Poison! He was poisoned! The Beedrill must have done it in their attack and now he was getting weaker and growing crazy. Ash tried to control his emotions and asked himself what Brock would have done in such a situation. But all thoughts came up empty as his panicked breathing slowly increased in intensity.

Brock was always there for him, _always_, and even when he wasn't there there was always someone nearby with the things he needed, he even had an antidote in his bag, but he didn't have his bag with him _now_. Should he walk and find Pikachu, or go to the river, or go to the Pokémon centre… his brain faced meltdown and his arms quivered with the poison seeming to take a hold on his body.

Then his thought turned to the worst. What happened to Sceptile. Was he sleeping or was he… and Pikachu. The poison! He felt his hart squeeze as if constricted by a snake, his throat become dry.

His head hung down and saw in his reflection that his skin was turning into a bright pink, the skin on his cheeks beginning to melt. His knees reported a great pressure piling up on top of them as numerous cracking sounds were heard. Ash's view of the world grew shorter and then began to fall back into the river, hearing the sound of a bell before he crashed into the endless blue.


	2. A 2

_Fusion dance? *Googles term* oooh, well that brings back memories... but not... exactly, it's a little different, there'll be no dancing unless it's for comedic effect. And to E, I give you a smiley face :)_

* * *

Ash found himself once more in the place he was in before. Not near the river, but that other place where he met the strange Ditto who needed his help.

But for now he found himself alone, the events of his previous encounter shrouded in a thick haze that allowed only the most important of events of their conversation to be remembered by his battered mind.

Ash was lost and confused in this strange non-place, remembering, briefly something that had happened regarding Sceptile… and a river?

No no, that had already come and gone, _this_ was something different, something important. If only he could remember!

He screamed, pulling at his hair. The surroundings spinning around him until they became a blur of dizzying colour, spinning and spinning and driving him to collapse on the floor from the sheer sense of displacement.

He opened his eyes and saw that the colours had gone, and that there was now a purple river all around him, rushing in one direction and making a sound like a tap that had been opened to its fullest.

He went to his knees, still dizzy from the aftereffects of the spinning colour and discovered that he was on some sort of boulder in the middle of the river. A rush of familiarity whispering to him that this scene should look very familiar.

He wondered what was going on and if there was anyone else here.

That was when he saw it. The Ditto standing on the far bank of the foul purple liquid. The Pokémon looked different from what snapshots he could remember of it from their last encounter, the brief fact about Ditto being genderless fluttering through his mind. Ditto didn't look sad, or joyful, he looked… disappointed.

Its mouth was pursed into a frown, its body was set in a sort of confrontational rigidity and its eyes stared into his, _no_, drilled into his own. And the Pokémon was shaking, faintly, and _there_, it was almost impossible to see but it was there, a tear. Ditto was crying.

Ditto was angry, but A little sad at the same time, in such a way that it reminded him of himself when he was younger and angry at Gary for breaking their friendship. Disappointed was the only description that Ash could give to the Pokémon's expression. Truly deeply disappointed.

So Ash, on his knees looked down and said "I'm sorry" knowing that that he had done something to the Pokémon to hurt its feelings.

"You broke your promise!" came the high pitched wail from the other side of the river. Ash briefly looked up with sad eyes. "You Broke it!"

"I'm sorry" Ash continued, still not knowing _what_ he was sorry about.

"I thought you wanted to be my friend" Ditto muttered, "But you lied... you lied."

Ash looked up to Ditto, curious and asked "What makes you think that?"

Ditto looked up, its angry expression returning "Because you were scared of me."

"Scared of you?"

_Sniffle_ "When you saw me on your head, and got scared... I knew that you didn't want to be my friend, because I don't want to be friends with the bad people who made _me_ scared."

Ditto's form slumped in a manner that reminded Ash of a person who had given up on life "and I really wanted to be your friend" tears fell from its eyes. "You looked... nice, and, and I thought that... maybe..." the Pokémon trailed off. Turning to the side and looking off into the distance.

Ash cautiously chose his next words, "do you mean at the river?" and got a nod from Ditto in return. "But" Ash felt shocked, "That was my hair, it was all... _you_?" Ditto nodded "And then my hat turned into" a beat... "my HAT!"

Ditto oblivious to the trainers panic replied, "yeah, I threw your hat away because I thought I could go with you and get away from the bad people" snapping Ash back into reality.

"What bad people?"

Ditto sighed and told Ash "they took me away from where I was and put me into a small place, I can't really remember much before... it... all." Ditto stopped as if trying to sort out its thoughts. "But they put bad things in me, and did, they did... they hurt me." Ash looked on as the Pokémon finished its patchwork story. "Hurt... me, with the... bad..."

Ash broke Ditto out of the loop it seemed to be in with a "hey. Don't worry, I may have gotten scared earlier, but I won't let anyone _bad _get you." I'll keep you safe.

Ditto gave off a weak smile than shook its head, as if to forget whatever hopes that had taken a hold inside of him.

"I mean it!" Ash shouted, once he saw the Pokémon's doubt creep up. "I'll stop them from hurting you!"

Ditto looked sceptical, "I thought you hated me?"

"I never said I hated you."

"but you were scared of me!"

"_No_"

"NO! I saw you! You screamed like Smoochum that saw a Scaftry in a dark alleyway. I _saw_ it."

"But"

"Well?" Ditto screamed, not wanting to have its hart crushed. "Didn't you _scream_! Didn't you want to _run away_!"

Ash paused for a moment to think before he answered "It's not because I was scared of you, it's just that I... it's not everyday that you wake up as a new species"

He paused, just realising the nature of the Pokémon that he was talking too, "Well, it's unusual for a human, you know?" Ditto nodded, "So when I saw my hair and my... hat. It was just a little"

He inhaled and decided to try again, "I just. Lots of things had happened. I was worried about Pikachu, and Sceptile and _everything_... I was scared, yeah. But, I'm not... not scared of you."

"Oh" Ditto sighed in understanding.

"Yeah, so... um, we cool?"

"H_uh_?" the Ditto replied, slightly confused, "But I'm not an Ice type right now."

"I mean..." he sighed "are we still friends?"

"D-do you want to be?" Ditto asked nervously.

"Of course!" Ash punched the air in excitement, "I'd love to have you as a friend, I mean the stuff you did, that's _awesome_" Ditto blushed, "and, well I don't know if you know, but I'm a trainer and I'd like it if you joined me on my journey."

But before Ash had even finished his sentence Ditto was jumping up and down squealing "Yes yes yes!" Then promptly leaping towards Ash to bring him into a hug, saying "Thank you" into his chest over and over again.

The river that once separated them had vanished.

Ash took a good look at the Pokémon and noticed that there was something strange about its appearance, something odd that he just couldn't put his finger on.

"Well" Ash began, lifting the Pokémon out of the hug and upwards so they were both face to face, "now that we got that sorted out. Do you know where we are?"

Ditto looked as if it was thinking intently "Nope, not idea."

Ash dumbfounded asked "I though you bought us here?"

"Nope" came the instant response, "I turned into your hat, and then it all went weird"

"Hmm?"

"It was like... I was transforming, even though I wasn't transforming, but... you know like, like I wanted to transform for a long time and I did, but then something else happened when I was on your head that made everything go _Whisssh_"

Ash blinked.

"and then you got poisoned!" Ditto shouted, pointing its stubby arm at Ash, "_we_ got poisoned, and then I had to save you from going down the river, and I was sad because I thought you hated me and-"

"OK" Ash interrupted, "So I think I understand now... sorta" Then took a good look at the Pokémon in his arms, "you look a little see through."

"See through?"

"Yeah like..." Ash watched in morbid fascination as the Pokémon in his arms became more and more transparent, the mass seeming to slip through his fingers as Ditto looked over itself with a childlike curiosity.

"This is cool" then turned towards Ash, the Pokémon's eyes having changed from small black pinpricks into a pair of lustrous blue that looked at him intently.

"The world" it said, the tone of the creatures voice having changed to something a little more feminine, "it's so" bells began to chime in the distance. "Big, I didn't know that it was so big."

"Ditto?" Ash asked cautiously as the chimes grew louder and louder.

The blue eyed Ditto looked at him and said "Thank you" before he blinked and woke up to the sight of a worried Sceptile kneeling before him.

Holding him and asking it's trainer "Tile, Scep tile?" as Ash tried his best to regain control of his faculties.

Blinking, wondering where the Ditto had gone, how he had arrived at the river from that non-place he was in before. The possibility that it was just a dream... it wasn't a dream he was sure, it _definitely_ wasn't a dream. It couldn't.

"Tile?"

but then again...

Ash shrugged and tried to get up, Sceptile helping him along the way. Until he was sitting position, able to see that he was still beside the river that seemed to encompass his world as of late.

He looked at his arms and hands to find that they looked like they should, like they were human.

Then he felt his Pokémon prodding him and looked up to see Sceptile's worried expression.

"Hey Sceptile" was his weak response. He gave off a brief, forced smile and asked "Are you all right?"

Sceptile let off a snort before nodding his head in confirmation.

"You don't feel poisoned or anything?" continued Ash, leading Sceptile to raise an eyebrow in curiosity before shaking his head to show that he felt completely healthy.

"Oh" Ash sighed, looking into the distance, "Because" He looked at his hands, moving his fingers one after another, "I think I might be."

Sceptile stared on in shock as his trainer said, "I came here to try, to drink some water, but I think that the poison might have gotten to me a little." Ash's eyes went to his Pokémon, "I feel a little better now, the burning's gone. But it'd be best to get some help, those berries that Brock said we could use, what were they? Oh yeah, _Pecha_, yeah. We should get some Pecha berries for both of us just to make sure we're completely fine."

Sceptile nodded at his trainers sound planning, a trait that contrasted with his usual headstrong attitude (the false memory of Brock taking care of his hundred siblings ignited his mind) and wondered if there was more to his trainer than he had first thought.

The Pokémon turned his head downstream, hoping to convey with his actions a question that his words couldn't form.

Ash saw where his Pokémon was looking and sighed, "I'm worried about Pikachu too. But he can handle himself" a smirk "Team Rocket's give us _tons_ of practice." he shook his head and groggily pushed himself up, Sceptile rushing to support him, "Besides, if Pikachu's poisoned as well, we won't be much help without any berries and we won't be much help to ourselves if we're... on the ground either."

So they began to move, but before they could make any significant ground Sceptile stumbled. Ash turned back, worried, waiting to see if Sceptile was hurt. But when Sceptile tried to get back up he stumbled once more, and was caught by his trainer who had rushed in a position to help him.

Ash smiled, and without a word passing between the two, they walked onwards, the trainer supporting the Pokemon's every step.

Their attempt at probing deep into the forest was met by the need to stay relatively close to the river, in case Pikachu had thought to move upstream.

But as they walker further and further along they found that the forest greeted them with an eerie silence, an absence of the usual daytime activities of Pokémon going about their business or Pidgey singing in the branches. Just the sound of the river in the distance.

Eventually they saw the first of the wounded. A Beedrill laying on the forest floor, its wings occasionally buzzing to suggest that it was still alive, but knocked out on the forest floor, and that first one was soon joined by another two, than three, then scenes of massacre where entire floors that were plastered with small swarms of Beedrill.

Ash and Sceptile tried their best to stomach the sight, and move on.

They didn't want to ask _what_ sort of creature could do such a great amount of harm to a swarm that had managed to force them off the edge of a cliff.

So they continued their trek until they finally found a grove with a Pecha berry bush bordered by small, fruit bearing Plum trees.

They sighed in relief, both not having felt the tell tale signs of poison for a long time now, but knowing that such feelings didn't mean an absence of the life threatening substance.

They ate the berries and Ash, putting Sceptile on the ground, due to his injury made his way to the Plum tree, feeling a strange urge build within him.

He jumped, wrapping his arms around the trunk and like an expert began to climb, moving up the trunk to the branches as if he had always done it. Before he could blink he was already high above the forest floor, eyes darting to each of the plums, looking for a good one.

He spotted some ripe ones on a branch that would have required him to climb around, but before that thought finished his legs sprang as if they contained springs and threw him to the branch which he grabbed with his arms and lifted himself up onto.

His mind panicked, wondering what was going on, but his body had already gotten his hands to pick the Plums, and throw them straight to Sceptile who caught them with ease.

He grabbed another pair, and dropped off the branch, gripping it to slow his fall before letting go once more to meet the ground.

Before he knew it he was sitting down next to his shocked Pokémon, calmly eating one of the Plums in his hands.

"You gonna eat some? They're good" were the words that came out of his mouth, but despite that he was shocked, completely and utterly, _knowing_ that he had never done anything remotely like that before. At least not without falling and getting some type of injury.

He felt different, as if there was something inside of him that knew how to _move_, how to use the trees and the branches and the whole of the forest to his advantage. How to stay hidden and how to find others. A part of him that screamed joy at being in this bountiful paradise.

When Sceptile shook off his shock Ash took another bite of the plum and felt completely sick.

But he quickly tried to forget about it, forget completely and concentrate. Concentrate on the important thing, finding his friend. His partner and getting somewhere safe where Sceptile could heal his leg. Because Ash knew, deep down that he would willingly melt into a puddle of goo again, if only it meant that his friends and family were kept safe.

So he braved the fruit that tasted like dirt, and sat in silence with his Pokémon after they had finished, just waiting, resting before they had to move out once more.

Eventually they did, Ash once more supporting a part of Sceptile's weight as they began to walk, but before they even made two steps, Sceptile caught his free leg in a rock, tripping onto his trainer and falling on top of him.

They groaned, the larger of the two rolling off of his trainer, who spat out the dirt he had bitten on during the fall. He was glad that the fall didn't hurt as much as he had expected it to.

"You o.k. Sceptile?" was his first question when he found that he could speak, but he heard no response, turning his head to his Pokémon "Sceptile?"

The grass type was looking straight ahead at something with determined eyes, and when Ash turned his gaze caught the sight of a Scyther standing tall in between two trees, a fallen Beedrill by his side. Blades covered at the edges in blood.

Looking at them with unyielding eyes.

The Beedrill twitched, and the Scyther responded with a Slash, silencing the wounded Pokémon.

Ash knew that this was the Pokémon that had hurt all the Beedrill. Beedrill who, regardless of what they did, he couldn't bring it within himself to hate.

He felt a coldness develop inside of him at the sight of the bug. This was a warrior, his eyes were like steel, piercing straight through him.

Ash felt scared, but chose to put of a brave face, shaking himself out of his thoughts to stand up against his opponent, wondering if he should distract it and let Sceptile run to safety.

He felt Sceptile move to stand behind him, with his bad leg giving him trouble. Making the trainer wonder if it would be better to make a last stand of sorts.

The Scyther rubbed its blades together in a motion that suggested that he was sharpening them "shiing."

They would lose in any attempt at a last stand.

"Shiing"

Ash's eyes spotted the Scyther's wings, as a flash of inspiration ran through his mind. Pikachu had the advantage against the flying type. Plan upon plan ran through Ash's head.

"Sceptile." He whispered. "Can you walk on your own?"

Sceptile growled as if to reject any ideas his trainer had of sacrificing himself.

"No, I have a plan, but I need to know if you can walk on your own for a bit, because you probably can't run."

Comprehension alongside memories of a hundred amazingly unusual strategies rushed through Sceptile head as he nodded in conformation. "Tile"

"Good. Listen, I'll distract him and meet you at the river, where we'll walk down stream to find Pikachu, got that?" Ash explained as the glow of understanding took a hold of him, knowing that his trainers crazy plans hadn't failed them yet, and would still probably succeed.

Hopefully.

Scyther began moving towards the two with measured steps as Ash let out a quick, "Get moving" to his Pokémon before circling the bug type from the side.

Sceptile shuffled backwards slowly, knowing that the Scyther's eyes were on him, and not on his advancing trainer. Knowing that a show of his injured leg would give the opponent all the opportunity he needed to move in for the final blow.

But then Ash shouted, "Oi ugly." From his position at the edge of the trees at Scyther's side. And Sceptile moved away.

Ash grinned his biggest grin as he saw his goading work, "I hear you've been working out your anger on innocent Beedrill eh?" the bug type raised an eyebrow, "Well, then you have to be the _weakest_ Scyther I've ever met" Scyther advanced at the trainer who was now within a thicker part of the forest.

"I mean," Ash tried his best to think up of an insult, "I've seen Butterfree that do a better job than you" The Scyther growled to Ash's pleasure, "Heck, I have a Pikachu that could drill you into the ground with a thunderbolt" Scyther began advancing, as Ash continued his way backwards.

"But hey, you have those cool blades on your hands." The Scyther froze at the complement, "what are they made out of, plastic?"

"SCYYY!" The Pokémon roared, his wings bursting to life as Ash turned and ran, hearing the crash of wood snapping; briefly turned around to see the Scyther in mid-air caught in the branches it had attempted to fly through.

The boys heart cried out in victory, "Well, look at you, weak and stupid."

"SCY-THER SCY" The Pokémon roared, lifting it's blades and slashing through the branches in one clean sweep.

"Uh oh" Ash said as he quickly began to run away. Knowing now why his mom always told him to not curse. It made angry Scyther's angrier.

He dodged bushes and vines and rocks that threatened to trip him over, slowly circling towards the river. Hearing "Swish- Thunk" whenever Scyther decided to level the forest instead of getting caught in it. Not willing anything to get in between it and its quarry.

"Swish- thunk" went the sound again, and again and again as Ash continued to run, until he noticed the sound was getting more and more distant, and then disappeared. Eventually he stopped, panting for breath, happy beyond words that his plan worked. That plan born from the knowledge that flying types never moved well in the forest, alongside knowledge that Scyther were amazingly slow when they didn't have any use of their wings.

His breathing levelled out, and he knew that he had to make the meeting point at the river. The Scyther looked angry… it _sounded_ angry and wouldn't be held back for long. Ash knew he had to move fast.

He began to make his way until the urge from earlier gripped him once more, whispering to him, ordering him to make use of the forest. It moved him towards a tree, which he climbed in an efficient manner, reaching the top before he could even contemplate the urge that had taken hold of him.

But by then it was too late, he was jumping along the branches, balancing upon them as if on a tight rope, moving ever gracefully above the forest floor. It felt like flying, soaring. The wind was in his hair... the _rush_.

Was this how his flying types felt? He wondered.

Was this how Sceptile felt whenever he moved amongst the trees?

Then in a burst of light he was on the ground again, the forest having given way for the side of the river. The flow of motions that guided his dance amongst the treetops fading away into background noise.

He woke up as if from a dream and looked around to find his Pokémon struggle his way out of the forest some ten meters away from him.

Ash instantly rushed to Sceptile in order to support him, and to help him make his way downstream where they would hopefully find backup in the form of Pikachu.

Not asking himself _how_ it was that he had gotten to the river first, even though he had taken the circular route.

But his moment was broke with a sharp sound, "Swish- Thunk" as a tree fell behind them. Cut clean. A frustrated Scyther, walking out of the forest to look upon his prey with deep frustration.

"Uh oh" Was the only thing Ash could say before the Scyther's wings began to buzz, lifting it into the air, and rushing towards the trainer, blade out wide for the slash.

"Ching" The world froze. Ash realised that he had his arms held defensively in front of his face.

The moment he lowered them he heard a roar "TILE!", and witnessed a flurry of green lights.

His breath was taken away, and in front of him stood Sceptile, arms extended with the bright green light of his Leaf Blade, Scyther on the ground in front of him.

Sceptile knelt on the ground, to take the weight off of his bad leg and fired off a Bullet Seed at Scyther, who rolled out of the way. Smashed the ground with its blade and used the force to find its way back onto its feet.

A flicker of its wings were the only warning that was given for its next attack, as the Scyther lifted itself upwards and sped forward through the air.

"Ching" Sceptile blocked the slash with another Leaf Blade, and Scyther flew off to the side, circling around to prepare another attack.

The Bug type rushed forward, and "Ching." came Sceptile's block.

Ash realised the desperate situation they were now in with Scyther capable of battering Sceptile until he broke through. "Sceptile Bullet seed." was his order, as Sceptile obeyed by reflex, striking the airborne bug.

Scyther moved quickly to get away from the attack and rushed once more, "Leaf Blade to defend!"

"Ching." Scyther flew away.

"Bullet seed, aim for where he's going, anticipate his movements!" Was the order as Sceptile peppered Scyther over and over again, the flying bug, weaving to avoid that attack that seemed to stick to him like glue.

Scyther turned, weathering the golden seeds that struck him and flew into the unending attack and crashed into Sceptile, sending the two rolling on the ground as a result of the surprise strike.

They rolled, until Sceptile found himself on his back, Scyther saw his opportunity and lifted his blades, charging them with energy.

"Boof!" Ash crashed into the Pokémon throwing him off of Sceptile.

But Scyther panicked and launched himself into the air before Ash could pin him.

Then a shout cut through the cacophony of battle "PIKA- CHUUU!" Ash saw white light, then he was flying, and his arms flailed, gripping onto the first thing he could grab, then it all stopped.

His vision stopped spinning and his hearing cleared up. He heard the buzz, felt the wind being shoved onto his face and the pale green chitin before him.

He was holding on to the Scyther.

He looked upwards to find that they were on a small ledge beside the river, dangling helplessly over the roaring current with the Pokémon's blades embedded into the edge.

Scyther turned around and saw the dead weight attached to him and began to kick Ash in his gut, forcing the air out of the boy and making his grip even tighter.

But Scyther began to kick even more, and the earth his blades were embedded in began to crumble until it broke apart, throwing them both into the river, Ash never letting go for even a moment.

"SPLASH" the river dragged them along, Ash clinging furiously to the struggling Scyther, as a burning sensation began to spread throughout his body, flickering him out of consciousness every time his head was forced under the waves.

The last thing that Ash heard was the distant cry of his Pokémon, "PikaPi!"

* * *

Ash woke up on the shore of the river for what was the second time this day, third if you counted waking up in the morning. The water lapping at his feet.

He groaned, trying to roll to his side and failing from the sheer amount of effort it seemed to take. But after he had spent his time recuperating he chose to try and do a check list on himself.

Toes? He tried wiggling them, only to find that they only moved as one, either clenching or not... and they were a little stiffer. But then again, he consoled himself that he was _still_ half submerged in the river.

Legs, he shook them to find that they still worked, although they seemed to be numb to the sensation of the water. But that was expected. He shook his shoulders, noticing how heavy they felt and then his rear, feeling an extra weight there also. But finished off with his arms (which were fine) and fingers, which seemed strangely absent.

Ash didn't panic, after all it was just his fingers...

He began to panic a little, but knew that he had just had the trip of a lifetime... again. He made a mental promise not to tell his mum about any of his adventures today, no way. Nu-uh.

But still, he had to get back to his Pokémon, and with a groan he lifted himself up with his arms. Arms pushing down on the shingle below him with a "Shink!" as his eyes closed in determination to complete this herculean task.

He gasped when he finally managed to get up, and looked around to see a sight he hoped that he wouldn't be waking up to any time soon. He turned behind him and spotted an odd object. Some sort of clear foil like thing, hanging rigidly in the air.

He bought his hand to it, and noticed that his hand wasn't really a hand any more. More silver... and pointy, and missing fingers, yeah...

He brought up his other arm to see if. Yup, pointy thing here too... funny, they matched. But despite his calm demeanour, his subconscious was working at overdrive to try and find out what sort of situation he had dumped himself into this time.

He looked at his legs to see them covered in pale green, and ending in some sort of claws, his rear to find that it had become elongated. Then to his back to see the sight of a pair of magnificent wings. Shimmering a rainbow hue in the sunlight. Translucent and weightless, like the most beautiful flower petals he had ever seen.

There was no doubt about it. He was a Scyther, but still he didn't panic, not in the slightest. Convincing himself that it could be worse, that it could always be worse.

Look at the positives, was the call that rang through his mind. Positives like... being able to cut fruit with out any trouble?

No, he admonished himself for such a weak excuse. But looking at his new blades he resigned himself to the fact that if he _had_ to transform into something... at least it was something awesome.

Besides, after his prior experience with turning into a pile of goo this was- no, no. Can't think things like that, the Ditto might hear.

But still, at least he wasn't melting or something equally ridiculous as if he was the living descendant of the Wicked Witch of the West.

He sighed.

These things were small mercies... but he wanted, he wanted...

The little boy inside of him screamed. "I just want to go home" and he closed his eyes, heart sinking from the weight he felt from days upon days of travelling.

He hoped to change, just change. Change back into himself. Rationalising that he had to have some control over this... whatever it was. To turn back the clock when he and Pikachu were just around the corner from the end of their glorious adventure and when they could return home and spend the mornings resting in his bed, and the evenings watching utter rubbish on the T.V.

He saw in his mind the image of himself when he was younger, and felt a warmth caress his body. Squeeze him all over as he kept on wishing, kept on hoping, kept on...

He stopped, and walked over to the river to see his reflection, but was sad beyond words when he saw that nothing had changed.

He was still a Scyther.

What was _wrong_ with him?

He resigned himself to the reality he was in and wondered _what now_?

He had to get back, that much was true.

Back to his friends, maybe _then_ he could...

He stopped his train of thought. Something felt strange. Were the trees always this big. Speaking of which the river wasn't _this_ big when he first looked at it either.

Like a flash of lightning the thought reared itself. He had shrunken himself...

Well that... that _sucks_.

But if he had managed to shrink himself, then he should be able to-

"Ther" came the weak groan from along the beach, causing the boy to jump.

But _there_ upstream from him, latched onto the shore by only its head was the body of the Scyther that had dragged them here. The river swallowing the rest of its body, threatening to take it back within its tide.

Then the Scyther opened its eyes, immediately fixing its gaze upon Ash.

It looked angry.

* * *

_Ugh, too much filler, needs more TF, but that's for the next chappie. Well less TF, more staying in TF and... well it doesn't look too pleasant for Ash._


	3. A 3

_Thanks to my reviewers!_

* * *

Then the Scyther opened its eyes, immediately fixing its gaze upon Ash.

It growled, and the boy felt a shiver travel through his body, freezing him in position as the Scyther slowly lifted itself up onto its feet, never taking his steely gaze off of Ash.

"So what are you?" were the first words out of his mouth. The words, the _words_ were as clear to him as English was, yet he knew, he knew that the Scyther was still talking in his own tongue.

"Very" the Scyther trailed his gaze up and down Ash "small, for a challenger." The Scyther waited, then barked "Well! Are you going to speak?"

Ash's throat twisted as he tried to squeeze out some words, _something _to hopefully not get sliced into two pieces.

But the Scyther just groaned in derision at the sight of Ash's indecisiveness, "_can_ you talk?"

Ash shook his head as a negative, knowing that giving such an answer would be best. Or at least better than the alternative of trying and failing, or worse speaking like a human.

"Well" the Scyther cocked his head to the side, "That's interesting, don't usually get to talk to a mute... or maybe your just dim?" The Scyther began to move forward, "regardless"

"Shing"

"a fight's a fight."

The Scyther tried out its wings, realising grimly that they were too wet for flight. Then turned his attention to the small challenger before him and rushed forward anyway.

He swung, but Ash had more than enough time to block with his own blade. The Scyther tried again. Ash blocked, stepping backwards.

"Not going to fight back?" Scyther roared. Ash's response was to put his blades up before him in a defensive manner. "Coward!"

The Scyther rushed forward sending a flurry of swipes: left, right, left, left, right. But at every turn Ash blocked and blocked and blocked, moving backwards as the sheer force of the blows forced him back.

"Raargh" the Scyther cried, throwing himself into a rage filled flurry, and all Ash could to was hold his blades in front of him, absorbing blow after blow after blow, and constantly moving backwards under the pressure.

Then BAM, the Scyther slashed his Scythes in an 'X' motion breaking Ash's guard, and jumped to send the trainer onto his back with the attacker sitting on top of him.

Ash froze when he stared into the focused eyes of his enemy, only now realising the way that Scyther battled. A mix of speed and power to overwhelm his opponents like he did with Sceptile.

But now Ash was defeated and Scyther just sat on top of the boy, looking down and calming down his breathing from the short battle.

Then the Pokémon spoke, "Your a fool for thinking that you could challenge me, especially when you are so clueless on how to attack" and rose his blades to Ash's throat, "too bad that you won't-"

Bang!

The world turned into a blur as Ash was grabbed by his midsection and thrown through the air, coming to a sudden stop with the shove of force that came with it. The distant sound of people laughing drifting past his ears.

He opened his eyes to see himself wrapped in some sort of mechanical arm. The presence of Team Rocket not too far away, jumping for joy at the prospect of their newest capture.

"We did it!" came the cry from Meowth. "We ain't got that Ditto the boss wanted but these little beauties should sure do the job don't you guys think?"

Jessie and James nodded as the Scyther, finding out his new status as a prisoner began to thrash about, his blades useless now that they were pressed against his sides.

Ash looked at his trappings more closely as Meowth told the elder Scyther just how useless it was to struggle, but before he got any good look at them he was lifted up by the Rockets contraption and thrown into a cage. Only slightly brused from the impact. Able to move with the bindings now off of him, but humiliated by the Rockets who were laughing at him and his companions misfortune.

He groaned, climbing up to his feet. It all seemed hopeless. He was in a new body whilst being sent to a group of Pokémon thieves. His friends wouldn't come for him, and if they did… he was now the enemy.

He looked at the Scyther wondering how the warrior would react to his new status as a weapon. Would he go beserk, would he break down or attack Ash in panic?

The trainer looked at the bars which were probably made resistant to attacks, and felt his resolve stiffen.

* * *

Ash stood parallel to the bars, lifted his blades and swung creating an audible "Clang!" from the bars as they shook.

"It won't work kid" was the Scyther's response. But Ash just prepared himself for another strike, and another comment from his cell mate.

"Clang!"

Not to say that the Scyther hadn't done his fair share of bar rattling, he just gave up rather quickly. Whilst Ash had waited till the Rockets had moved away in order to eat lunch before he attempted his jail break.

"Clang."

"Not. Gonna. Work. Kid. It's a simple concept really."

"Clang."

"Oh the youth of today, you're not even doing it right." Ash turned to the elder who smirked, "So _now_ you hear me!"

Ash turned back to the bars "Ching."

"Now now, you haven't even fixed yourself up and you're going for the attack. Explains why you defended in the fight if you're _that_ incompetent."

Ash looked angry now. But Scyther didn't seem to care, "What you gonna do kid, _bleed_ on me?" But Ash merely growled at the lazy Pokémon who sighed, "Look kid, take a break, have some rest. The bars'll still be there when you get up."

Ash collapsed in the corner.

He wouldn't deny he was tired, but admitting defeat was something he'd rather not do to the creature that was responsible for putting him into this situation in the first place.

He glanced at his cell mate, seeing the Pokémon trail his gaze over him. It was disturbing.

"You look just like me." Very disturbing.

"Like a sort of, mini-me." Very very disturbing.

A sharp laugh, "You might be a little idiot but at least you know good looking when you see it." But Ash kept his gaze on the bars.

"Maybe it isn't a coincidence? Maybe you _are_ one of mine" a pause, the Scyther snorted, "I hope not…" His eyes widened, "You _are_, you got to be one of mine… _NO_. Is that why you came to me? It wasn't a challenge, more like some… patron-offspring reunion… thing."

Ash didn't shift, "bugger. Your matriarch must have messed up big time… _I _must have messed up big time in picking her in the first place. Whoever she was" He didn't move, still feeling Scyther's gaze on him.

"Unless she died?" No movement, "or she's… in a coma?" Still sitting still, "Come on kid, you gonna give me something to work with here? We're gonna be working for the forces of evil as a Patron/offspring duo, you're gonna have to say something." Ash wished he could have the silent, murderous Scyther back.

"You know, I've had hundreds of females in my time. If you want some advice-" the Scyther was interrupted by Ash getting up and striking the bars with a renewed vigour.

"Clang clang clang"

"Well if you really don't want to know."

"Clang clang clang."

"Look Stop! I get it." Ash stopped his assault on the bars. "If you don't want to know, you don't want to know. I understand." Ash breathed out a sigh of relief, "So I'll tell you about the males that I've had."

"CLANG CLANG CLANG!"

"I'm joking, I'm joking. By the legends, for my offspring, you're a real serious one." The image of swarms of beaten Beedrill engraved themselves into Ash's mind as he tried not to think about the hypocrisy.

He prepared another strike onto the bars before the Scyther stopped him once more. "Look, if you're gonna break your blades, at least do it properly."

Ash turned his head to see the Bug type standing on his legs and saying "look" whilst making a motion for Ash to observe him as he struck his two blades in sliding motion, making a familiar "Shiing" sound. "Now you try it."

Ash moved his blades together only to have them lock themselves together, or bump up and down on the uneven surface.

"Feel that?" Ash nodded "that's what you get when you don't take care of them, "They become bent or chipped away in places."

Scyther tilted his head to the side "I'd like to think that I'm responsible for most of that, but I suspect that your lovemaking with these gorgeous metal rods here has left with you with a nice little love bite."

Ash growled and struck the bars again, with the Scyther protesting "Stop, stop stop. Honestly, are you brain dead?"

"Look, you've made some nice scratches but it's not going to break them "Even _I _can't with all of my skill" he said "watch!" and bought his blades forward, enclosing them with a faint white sheen of energy as he let off a slash attack.

"Clang!" went the bars as the Scyther said "See"

But then they heard a "Crack" sound emanate from the bars, a fracture forming in them as the two froze in surprise. They looked to each other and grinned, or at least Ash tried to. He found that his new mouth was incapable of making such an expression. But he saw a twinkle in the elder Scyther's eyes as he looked down at Ash, as if he had just hit the jackpot.

A moment passed, then Scyther's face suddenly turned grimly serious. "All right you lucky little hell-spawn, we're gonna get those humans before they realise that we've gotten out. Got that?" Ash nodded.

"Good, now. They're just beyond that tree line and... what?" Ash looked at him curiously, wondering how he knew where they had placed their camp.

"Seriously kid, what? You got to speak up." Ash growled, "Ha!" the Scyther barked. "What's wrong boy, cat got your tongue? _HA_"

"Shing" was the sound that Ash's blades made to surprise Scyther.

A beat "_well_, it looks like you were paying attention to me." He paused and looked at Ash, "I take it you want to know how I knew?" he pointed to where he said the Rocket camp was "where they were?" a nod.

"Well, if you look up, you'll notice the smoke of a controlled fire." Ash's head twisted upwards to confirm the fact, "a little trick you pick up from staying in these border territories. Now come!" They started moving downhill, away from the camp.

"Quickly," Scyther barked "we have to get to the River before they notice we've gotten out!"

Ash shuddered at the thought of returning to _that_ place again.

But regardless, Ash obeyed his command and followed the much quicker Scyther who burst between the foliage using his legs and wings whenever either one became a preferred option.

Ash lagged at a distance having no use from his wings, and not wanting to fail at flying in front of the other Scyther.

But that was before he saw his companion waiting for him several steps away.

"_Wings_ boy. I don't know what you've been taught, but you _are_ allowed to use them." Came the amuse response. Scyther didn't look amused, just impatient. But then again Ash wondered if it was possible to even smile when you didn't have cheeks.

"BOY! Wings!" Scyther shouted, bursting Ash's wings into consciousness with a flurry of movement, forcing the air backwards and the trainer flat onto his face.

Ow.

"Ha-a-a-a-a" the Scyther laughed. Ash looked up annoyed as could be, but was quickly terrified at the sight of the Pokémon's vicious jaws rapidly opening and snapping shut as he continued his inhuman laugh.

"Oh boy, you are truly one-of-a-kind." He finished. Then turned serious, "but we must hurry, time is of the essence." And rushed forward, prompting Ash to follow him in his own, ground bound way.

The Scyther however, noticing this groaned, now realising that the boy wasn't just playing with that stunt of his. Truly shameful behaviour.

He looked at the young one as he struggled to walk on his legs, barely maintaining his balance as he sloshed left and right and resolved himself to sort out this issue.

He leapt purposefully at the boy to snap him out of his efforts and adjusted his stance. Moving his back into a more horizontal position with the flat of his scythe to bring Ash into a better position to run if the boy was truly incapable of any short range flight.

"_There_, stay like that, and" he kicked the boys legs inwards to allow for greater agility, "that should do. Keep like that and follow" were his last words as he burst forth, the boy following, all be it at a slower pace than he, but no longer one that would have made a Slugma look like the fastest thing on the planet.

Ash was immersed in the rush, having went limp at the surprise of the Scyther's help. He rushed into a run without thinking and began to flow with the motions. Like he had become finely tuned, balanced and much more efficient. He could feel it as he rushed forward, always keeping the elder one in his pinpoint gaze, his legs moving like well-oiled pistons, and his _abdomen_ of all things… he could feel its effects to balance and stabilise him with every turn making him wonder how he had ever survived without one.

Then he skidded to a stop. The bane of his existence in front of him. Calling to him with that awful gargling sound.

"Right" the other Scyther began, "We're at the river to find some help" he tilted his head in a manner that Ash suspected Scyther did whenever they found something amusing, "just don't _say_ anything, okay?" and as annoying as heck.

His unwelcome companion walked over to the river and called out, "_Shoo be doo_! Shoo- shoo be _doo_" and for a moment Ash honestly wondered if this Pokémon had broken out of some sort of asylum.

Then a ten foot tall blue sea serpent burst out of the river.

To say that he was shocked was an understatement. As for one Gyarados tended to live in the sea, two there was no way the river had been big enough to conceal a creature of that size, and three, a ten foot bringer of fury had just burst out of the river and was staring at him with eyes that made him feel delicious… in the worst way possible.

Then it began to speak.

"Shoo-be- daa?" in a voice that shook the very earth under him, making Ash fear for his life if this creature was in any way near to the levels of insanity that the Scyther had displayed.

But the Scyther didn't appear at all scared. "I require saving, can you save me?"

"I am RESCUING you!" the Gyarados roared, biting a boulder by the river bank and crushing it within its jaws, "Die boulder! You won't hurt the _Delicious_!"

He could feel the Scyther flinch at the nickname that he was given. "No! _I'm_ not- I mean, there are bad people!"

The Gyarados swapped his attention to the speaker. "Bad people?"

"Humans." The Scyther said with a heavy gravity about his words.

"Humungasaurs?"

"Er…"

"They will feel my wrath _Delicious_, they tricked us, abandoned us! Lunch will be served!"

"Wait!" Scyther interjected, waving his arms around wildly "we can't risk it, we _need_ to keep the border safe. It was hard enough to keep the Beedrill in check. We can _not_ deal with the dark humans as well!"

Gyarados growled.

"Remember the _Beedrill_? The ones that always poisoned you?" Scyther asked.

"Poison is bad."

"and who chased them away?"

Gyarados growled, his eyes boring deep into Scyther's "_From one outcast to another _were your words."

Scyther looked equally as intense, the humorous antics of the sea serpent pushed to the side "the river flows downhill." The Gyarados growled once more, its giant razor sharp teeth glinting in the sunlight.

"Our only option is a show of force, and then to chase them off."

"Chase is good" Gyarados grumbled, eyes still fixed on Scyther.

"or scare them away."

"Scare is better"

"Good!" Scyther exclaimed as if he had just won the argument "Now, they're in the forest so-"

"Can't" the Gyarados interjected.

"What?"

"Forest is thick, and far, _Delicious_. Too far." The terrifying sea serpent interjected, "too far to reach".

Scyther looked crestfallen, "can't you?" the Gyarados shook his head before Scyther could even finish his question.

Ash noticed that Scyther had frozen, eyes appearing deep in a concentration that would have entranced any who looked at him for too long, as it had done with the Gyarados who just gazed at what Ash guessed was his afternoon snack that had asked for help.

Was it an everyday occurrence in the Pokémon world that your lunch asks for help?

The Scyther snapped out of thought and told the Sea serpent, "I'll bring them here, will that work for you?" and got a nod of confirmation in return.

The two bowed, and the Gyarados sunk into the river, blending in with the blue until he was completely undetectable to the casual eye. Scyther turned to wards Ash and tilted his head in a manner that Ash was really beginning to hate.

"Boy? How would _you_ like to have the honourable position of being bait?"

Ash turned and began to run away as fast as he could. His wings activating in his panic and throwing him into the ground, on his face.

Could life be any more cruel?

"Come on, now's not the time to be an idiot, now's the time to look _attractive_. I hear that these types only look for powerful Pokémon. But you can't pull off powerful, so you'll have to look like a female, and maybe they'll try and take you in for breeding."

Life could always be more cruel.

* * *

Although, to be fair, he'd experienced worse. Especially during that time when... or that time when- yeah.

So, considering all of that. This wasn't all that bad.

"Psst" but then again, "Go sniff the flowers, that's lady-like thing to do." There could be an improvement in the company.

He stood still, not wanting to go through with any of this, wondering what had happened to the harbinger of terror that he had met not to long ago. The shift in personalities making him wonder if he had stumbled onto one of the Scyther's alter egos. "Hey, kid" or maybe this was the way that they treated others of their kind, some sort of Pokémon racism?

"They're coming, start sniffing those tulips" Ash froze at the prospect of meeting the thieves once more... the thought that _he_ was now their target sending a pang of fear down his... "and don't forget to bat your eyelashes" and the fear went away

The bushes rustled and out popped out the three Rocket members. Two humans and Meowth.

The four froze when they spotted each other, until Meowth spoke up, "Hey guys! It's the chick" and earned a facepalm from Ash.

Ash took a step backwards, as Team Rocket took a step forward, and then took another step. Jessie and James reached for their Pokéballs and before they could even release their Pokémon Ash had turned around and began to run towards the river, body flat as the elder Scyther had taught him. Weaving and ducking through the natural obstacles, the three thieves fast on his tail.

It wasn't long before he broke free from the forest and made it to the river.

Team Rocket quickly followed, looking triumphant, if not a little out of breath at having their target in their sights.

"We've got you now!" was the cry of victory from James.

"You're cornered!" finished Jessie.

Ash paused for a second and looked across the river, then over to his wings. Sure he couldn't fly, but they didn't know that so how was he cornered? His head started to hurt, and he promised himself to stop thinking about it.

"Now if you'll only surrender peacefully-"

"Shing"

They stopped in their tracks and turned around to see Scyther looking at them from the tree-line with his steely glare.

Ash felt a wave of calm wash over him and cool his nerves. The sight of Team Rocket take a couple of steps back acting like a soothing balm on any worries he may have had of being captured.

"Uh, guys!" Meowth said, prompting the humans to release their Cacnea and Serviper.

They didn't hear the crunching sounds of scales against the shingle. They didn't hear Ash jump out the way of the Sea serpent as it slithered onto land. Nor the deep breaths it took as it looked onto them from the side.

What they did see was the Scyther cock his head to the side, then point his snout at an angle. When they turned to see the gaping jaws of Gyarados.

"_eep_"

Ash cocked his head to the side at the scene as Gyarados lifted its head and let out a mighty roar that threw several globs of spit at the group.

James began to let out a hight pitched wail consisting of the sound "_eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee_"

And Gyarados began to emanate a faint rumble, a sound that Ash faintly remembered from the past. The sound of rushing water being summoned, rushing, and "SHURURURH!" was the sound that ripped across the riverside as Gyarados let out a high pressured stream of water, throwing the group into the river which washed them far away.

Ash's head remained tilted as Scyther broke into a fit of laughter that looked more like a dog barking.

Eventually he calmed down and offered his thanks to an amused Gyarados, who laughed, took a brief glance at Ash and slithered back into the river.

Now alone Scyther walked up to Ash. None of the intensity of their initial meeting lingering about him. It was as if he had become a completely new person.

When they were face to face he looked over Ash's smaller form, making a small clicking sound in his mouth as he finished.

"You look just like me, kid." he said plainly, "and you... you're a... hmm" he paused, deep in thought.

"Well" his eyes burst wide open to dispel whatever thoughts he was having "it's been fun. If you… well" and began to walk away into the forest, leaving a confused Ash behind him.

Eventually when the Scyther had disappeared into the trees Ash noticed the sound that had bought terror to his foes had returned, and turned around to be blasted by a burst of water, through the trees and into the dirt on his back.

He woke up and was greeted by the sight of Scyther looking down on him, head cocked to one side, and amused beyond words.

"It seems as if you can't seem to get away from me, eh?" he barked one of those terrifying laughs then stopped. He looked at Ash's eyes, focusing intently as a strange sensation began to be drawn between the two of them, a faint call from a place that was beyond either of their reaches, far away and distant, calling to them with the force of a thousand wing beats, and a thousand roars of the heart.

Pounding on and on.

Lost in the presence of the other, they woke up from the moment, and shook their heads of the lingering traces of whatever had taken a hold of them.

"Well." Scyther began, "if you have no place better, follow me. I'll take you to my hive" and began to walk away. Stopping and turning around to tell Ash "It's a better way to find a home than to try and challenge me for territory again." Before he moved on.

Ash was stuck. The warring ideologies of his heart tearing him apart, driving him in two different directions.

He had to go to his friends and his Pokémon, he had to go back. Every shred of common sense told him that this was the best plan. Even if they thought that _he_ was the Scyther that had attacked Sceptile earlier, even if they couldn't find a way to turn him back. He had to go to them, and a least try!

But his legs were already following the Scyther with steady steps, following the sound of the wings, and the colour of the rainbow and a thousand voices calling out to the heart of the world.

He couldn't resist, he had to follow. Every step he took away from Pikachu and his friends broke a piece of his heart.

But when he caught up to the Pokémon, he saw Scyther turn around briefly before continuing to make his way forward to wherever it was he was going, head cocked to the side.

At least he had made one person smile today, and with that knowledge Ash went onward, a small piece of his heart singing in joy. Whilst the rest cried in despair.

* * *

_I wanted there to be shenanigans in this chapter, and shenanigans there were._

_What do you think, too much of a mood swing? I mean it was fun to write, but then again, AAAAAGGGHHHHH I've shifted the tone too sevierly! See, I'm never happy with the stuff I come up with. Oh well: I guess I've got bigger problems, what with the scene where _**[BLANK]**_ goes to _**[BLANK] **_and then _**[BLANKITY-BLANK-BLANK] **_and how in the world I'm gonna write that without making it look too saucy. _

_So remember, in the words of Scyther: "The River flows downhill". Kindness given freely from those who can provide, to those who are in need. Or in other words, I can't wait for your reviews :) *sits and waits*_


	4. A 4

_All Ash has so far is some rudimentary TF power from whatever happened because of Ditto's sacrilegious attempts to mimic the holy hat. Problem is that Ash can't really control much of these new powers, as they are completely foreign to his body. _

_So yeah, it's not really complex. I tried to be clever and avoided any lengthy exposition in the story, but now fear that that may have been a mistake. Either way, what's done is done, and if you have any more questions feel free to askey away._

* * *

The forest was a riot of green, with every turn turning up something new and wonderful.

Ash and Scyther had walked forward at a leisurely pace, the Scyther keeping quiet for the journey. But Ash didn't mind the silence. It was as if the boys eyes had been opened to a whole new world that was hidden just behind the tree line. Every step he took he saw life in action. Rattata running in the bushes playing their games, or the songs of the newly hatched Pidgey, singing songs of what it would be like to have the wind under their wings.

It was as if, despite all of his days walking through the countryside and the woods, the truth of nature had been hidden from his eyes. And now… now it had blossomed, like a spring flower. Bringing life and joy to all its surroundings.

And his heart, it leapt and jumped with joy, like a child who had just been introduced to the wonders of dancing. Unhindered by the chains of growing up; content to gather the confetti from the floor, only to throw it into the air. To watch the world become awash with colour.

He was so entranced by the wonder of the forest that the feeling of Scyther slapping him on the head with the flat of his blade felt like a Thunderbolt.

"Wake up!" was the only thing the Pokémon said to him before returning to his walk.

The joyous world was broken and all of a sudden Ash found himself at a loss regarding the sensations that had just overcome him. It was as if he was wrapped up, held close and tight; made willing to do anything for the one that held him.

The feeling was _intoxicating_.

But, it was strange… foreign.

The thought unnerved him. He tried to piece together the events that had happened to him. The dreams, the Ditto, the poison and the Beedrill and the Scyther. Sceptile and Pikachu. The transformation…

The transformation!

It hit Ash like a burst of fire. It had to be something to do with the change that was forced onto him. It was affecting his thinking, the way he acted and-

Sceptile, when he, when Ash climbed the trees like that. He had never been able to climb like that before and when he was running in the branches, trying to get back to the River, the urge that had gripped him was kinda like… sorta like. But… not…

His thoughts began to blur. His head began to flush red as it was flooded with blood. A distant part of him remembered Misty warning him not to think too much in case he broke something.

Then Scyther lifted his blade to motion Ash to stop and the thoughts that he was having vanished into thin air. Replaced by obedience for the elder. A readiness befitting of a warrior.

"Look who's here" came the nasally voice from high up. Ash twisting his head upwards to see the scrawny Scyther perched atop a tall tree trunk that had been beheaded of all its branches. Forming a makeshift pillar upon which the Pokémon could gaze at its surroundings.

"I'm going to the hive" Scyther said, eliciting a snort from the sentry.

Who waved his blades in a lackadaisical manner and said "I didn't know you had a home"

"I do." Scyther replied stiffly, "and I'm going."

"No you're not" came the response as Scyther had moved one leg forward.

He twisted his head to gaze at the sentry, "and why's that?"

"Because you don't have a home over _there_" Scyther growled.

"Who are you to say that I don't have a home" his blades began to shake and Ash could tell that that Scyther was holding in his anger.

"The one who's on orders from our dear Patriarch" the sentry drawled, "_sibling_"

Ash was shocked at the revelation, and Scyther swayed a little on his feet at a strange sensation that washed over him.

He composed himself, "I'm sure that your dear Patriarch though the best of you when he sent you to this waste of a duty. I am grateful that I have the role of a warrior in my errands, as pretending to be a human wouldn't fit me." And began to walk away.

"I wouldn't go that way" the sentry cried.

But Scyther marched on, barking "Break your blades!" to his brother, as Ash obediently followed him.

…

…

Ten minutes later Scyther returned to the tree pillar where the Sentry sat, tilting his head at an angle that had Ash later attempting to mimic to see if he could duplicate it.

"I told you not to go that way" the Sentry said smugly.

"Keep your head like that and it'll fall off" Scyther replied as he began to walk the _correct_ way to his hive.

* * *

It was a feeling of utter oppression that overcame Ash as he walked into the haphazard clearing that contained the hive, littered with tree stumps, and decaying branches that had not been cleaned up.

Several structures were placed in the clearing consisting of a greenish-brown substance, with branches thrown into the construction in an attempt to, what Ash guessed was make it stronger. They all looked strange, neatly placed into two rows to form something of a road in the middle. The houses themselves made in the shape of a deformed cube that had suffered from the marks of several attacks; at the end of the road there was a large hollowed out boulder.

And all around the hive there were Scyther. Paused in their everyday routines. Some children, some adults, playing and sparring respectively (although the difference was very slight). All frozen and glaring at the two newcomers.

Ash's companion walked onwards down the road and Ash felt a growing dread build up inside of him. The feeling of fingers claw around his neck. Then squeeze, choking him, tighter and tighter. Then he was free of it's grasp, left exposed to the void. Like he could hear the ground roar at him, outraged with his filthy presence, daring him to take one step out of line. Making him want to run. To run and never come back.

Then it all washed away, and he looked to find himself inside a stone building. He realised that he must have walked in here during his hallucination, then took it upon himself to study the room he was in.

It was filled with Scyther. Most of them dotted around the edges of the room with eggs besides them. In the back sat one male. Ash didn't know _how_ he knew that the Scyther at the back was male compared to the others who he now realised were female. Perhaps his stoic aura or his posture or even some new sixth sense that was bought alongside Ash's new insectoid form.

But he knew that they were all watching him from the moment he had stepped in. Not with the same piercing gaze as those outside, but with a confidence that made Ash feel small. Eliciting feelings that screamed at him to run away or surrender and apologise for whatever slight they thought he had committed.

His companion began to walk forward, prompting Ash to follow until they both stood in front of the Elder warrior.

Yes, that's what the male was, an Elder warrior. Ash knew it by instinct.

Then the Elder warrior, taking a glance at Ash turned towards Scyther and asked in a smooth voice, "How's it hangin' cool cat"

Scyther groaned a little, but replied in a curt manner, "I've found an apprentice to take on Patron."

But the Elder intervened, "Hush now kiddo. Is that how you still talk to your daddy-o." Ash was beginning to get confused "The castanets are blue and you're blasting away the vibes of a Pi-ano."

Scyther stared, bemused for a few seconds before admitting, "Patron, I have no idea what you just said."

The Elder sighed, before standing up and walking towards Ash.

His voice became gruff as he looked over the transformed boy and told Scyther, "You used to love it when I talked like that, son."

Ash saw Scyther wince as the Elder turned Ash's face from side to side in order to examine him from all angles, "I'm no longer newly hatched, Patron."

The Elder stopped his examination of Ash and walked back to his original position and sat down, telling Scyther, "you'll miss it when I'm dust. I know _I_ miss my Trainer using those very words on me."

"Of course" Scyther said, hoping to move the conversation on.

But the Elder continued on as if oblivious, "I remember the first time I saw a human, heck, I wondered if… well that doesn't matter." The Elder chuckled in that way that reminded Ash of a cartoon dog he once saw "_he he he_" and made Ash wonder if it was possible for himself to laugh like that in this form as well. "And there was this one time he put super glue in someone's shoes. _HA_!"

"Elder?" Scyther intervened.

"Huh?"

Scyther pointed to Ash, snapping the Elder out of his reverie.

"Oh! Well, I didn't know you were able to get a Femme of your own. You always did have a thing for the boys, what with all the carcasses you ended up making."

Ash looked at his companion in confusion, but was ignored in the face of the conversation, "He's not my offspring"

The Elder raised an eyebrow "you sure, he looks a lot like you… a bit feminine, but"

"He's not mine." Scyther interjected.

Silence stretched for a few seconds before the Elder asked his question, "Then why's he with you?"

"I wish to take him on as an apprentice"

"_That's_ a first!" the Elder barked, his tone turning jovial once more "never took you as the _social_ type kiddo. What with you going after the ways of your mom, heck, I thought that you'd turn feral and do the whole 'lone wandering warrior' thing." Then he became serious once more "but I gotta ask, why the change of heart?"

Scyther hesitated a moment before looking at his father and telling him without hesitation "He's a part of the swarm."

The Elder looked at his son condescendingly before telling him, "boy, I know every egg that's been hatch inside these walls, and I know about them all until they choose to leave. He has _never_ been a part of my swarm"

Scyther continued, "He's a part of _my_ swarm"

"You do not joke about things like this kid. None of my females are disloyal-"

"_You_ do not understand." Scyther interjected, "My _Swarm._"

"But you said he's not your so- oh! _Oh_!" The elder gasped, eyes wide open along with every female that lined the walls of the cave, "your _Swarm_." Then paused, his eyes sharpening their gaze on Ash who had until now been more than comfortable remaining unnoticed whilst they talked about him, "But how?"

The Elder glanced over to a female lining the edges as she stood up, carefully stepping over her egg and walked out of the cave whilst Scyther explained.

"It happened."

"Just happened?" The Elder asked.

"Yes."

"Did you have a fight?"

"Yes" a pause "but it was an easy win." Ash felt a little insulted.

"Did he beg for your aid?"

"No" Scyther glanced briefly at Ash, "he can't talk"

"Mute? But then… what makes him special? Does he have unique ancestry?"

"Not that I can tell"

"Not that you can tell?" the Elder echoed for Scyther to elaborate.

"He seems incapable of advanced attacks."

At least two females snorted at the assumed joke, before being silenced by several sharp glares.

"Is there anything special about him, other than his incompetence?"

"He's a quick learner" Scyther admitted, "he's determined" the Pokémon glanced at Ash who felt proud of these attributes, "and he's my apprentice."

Silence reigned in the cave once more as Scyther's words sank in to all those around, especially Ash who was hit with a mix of pride, and confusion at Scyther's words and proposition.

The Elder tool a long look at the two, shifting between Ash and his son until his head tilted to the side in a manner that Ash understood as their form of a smile.

"You know kiddo" he began, "I'm proud of you." Scyther tried to ask a question but was cut off by his father telling him, "For all your dislike of human culture, you behave just like one." Scyther began to frown, "Seeing potential that others don't see, doing what you have to do to help those that need it. Making Swarms that are _impossible_." The Elders eyes were dancing, "Get out of here cool-cat, take your boy with you. Things, expect from you, I do."

And with that Scyther bowed to his Patron, Ash mimicking him and walked out of the hive, mumbling something about how the Elder didn't even bother to ask about the Beedrill like he usually did.

When Ash walked outside, it felt as if he had inhaled a breath of fresh air. The dark walls of the cave having crumbled. The judging eyes of the Scyther were off of him, and the dark walls of the cave, were behind him.

He looked around to see the Scyther going about their day, no longer paying him any heed bar occasional, half hidden, curious glances. Ash guessed that the female who had been sent out had alerted the rest of the… tribe? Swarm? Is that what they called it?

"Snap out of it kid!" Scyther shouted already several steps ahead, and calling for Ash to follow him.

Ash rushed over to him, walking away from the row of makeshift houses and towards the edge of the clearing.

But they were blocked by the presence of a female cutting off Scyther's path and looking at him in amusement.

"Heya big boy, I heard you have a new apprentice"

Scyther just walked around her.

"Hey, you just gonna ignore me?" and Ash followed until they were a distance away from the strange female.

They soon reached the edge of the clearing to what looked like a cocoon of brownish material attached to the side of the tree and covered in vegetation to make it appear as if it was a part of the scenery.

Scyther then turned to Ash, "This is my home. I presume that you don't know how to make your own, so until you do learn, you're free to stay here. Just remember to do your business in the forest because I don't want to wake up to a pile of steaming fertiliser in the morning."

Ash felt a little outraged, and was about to protest with several exaggerated movements to tell his new mentor that he was potty trained, but was stopped by Scyther's sharp glare.

"Just remember, no matter what happens, my home is always open to you and I'll always be by your side should you ask me for help."

He inhaled a sharp breath of air before readying a lesson for his new student "Because, I don't know if you've noticed yet, but there _is_ a Swarm between us. And that is something special even in the greatest of-"

"Big boy" the female screeched from a distance, causing Scyther to groan.

"Why _is_ she back again?"

But then Ash saw a blur of yellow, the sight of Pikachu emerging from his forest. A sight that filled his heart to the brim with joy.

Then time seemed to freeze as Pikachu looked straight at him, eyes marked with fury, cheeks dancing with electricity. Then a beam of white "PI KA CHUUU!" the Thunder struck like a tidal wave, tearing apart every one of his nerves in searing pain.

And he felt his heart crash, his spirit tear itself asunder at the sheer savagery of the strike, as he was sent flying through the air, his body convulsing from the waves and waves of sheer pain that coursed through him, burning him from the inside. A thousand needles piercing every piece of his skin.

The heavy thud of his landing after what seemed an eternity. Somewhere in the forest, away from the fighting if his shredded eyes and ears were to be believed.

The feeling coursed through him, growing warmer, hotter, tearing and torturing his body, like a thousand ants had crawled on top of him and were biting with a bloody single mindedness. Ripping him apart. His head, his body and his fingers.

Then it was over. He could hear little more than the clamour of battle in the distance, his friends fighting amongst themselves over him.

Himself, helpless. Lying down spent on the forest floor, falling unconscious.

Into darkness…

Into darkness.

* * *

Ash woke up to the sight of a white ceiling, and soft comfort all around him.

It didn't take him long to discover that he was in a bed, but the 'why?' and 'how?' still rung in his mind.

But then he began to feel a string of sensations that he had been void of for what seemed like an eternity. The softness of the bed covers, the soft warm sensation of a ray of sunlight hitting his cheek. It was all so familiar, all so human. And that was when he realised that he could feel his fingers again and feel his toes. He touched his chest and knew that he was back, he was back, he was-

"PikaPi!" cried his joyous Pokémon as a small bundle of yellow crashed into him, squealing in joy at the waking of his trainer. And when he did manage to get Pikachu to relent, he was greeted by the sight of Sceptile looking on with the widest smile he had ever seen his Pokémon muster.

Ash smiled back and noticed how Sceptile held himself back, the stoic demeanour that the Pokémon had used since they met returning to cover up the camaraderie they had found in the last two days. He put Pikachu down to the side, and opened his arms to the grass type who stood for a moment, looking in confusion. Then burst forth and wrapped his arms around his trainer, in what seemed like the first time ever.

And they didn't let go, Pikachu just looking on with a heart-warming smile, as barriers built up by days of indifference, and distance in order to maintain an aloof image broke down in the face of sheer joy.

Sceptile felt his heart melt, and knew that even if Meganium didn't choose him, there were others who would always be by his side.

Always.

Eventually the three of them had to break up their moment by the familiar sound of the door creaking open to reveal their friends entering. All of them harbouring reactions of joy when they saw Ash awake, Max jumping in the air, May squealing in glee and Brock just looking at them from a distance, nodding his head in approval.

They all quickly found chairs and began to retell tales of their respective adventures. Ash omitting any portions about Ditto's in his dreams and transformations into a Pokémon as he wasn't exactly sure that his little adventure was at all real.

The nightmare of Pikachu raining down lightning onto him.

He hoped that it wasn't real and that look of sheer anger was just a nightmare. That he could return to his normal life where his loyalties weren't divided, where he wouldn't have to fear turning into a puddle of goo, or being assaulted by alien senses of whatever Pokémon he had transformed into. And eventually filled in the gaps in his story with the words, "I don't really remember" to his friends understanding.

But then they began to relay _their_ story to him. How they had met Scott who told them about the Beedrill hatching at this time of year, and how they were usually very violent to protect their vulnerable young.

How they had found Pikachu in the care of a man named Spencer.

How they found him and Sceptile under attack from the Scyther, eventually leading to him falling into the river with his attacker. And their subsequent taking down of the Scyther nest in order to stop them from harming the Beedrill…

Ash zoned out for a moment as they described their fight, feeling outrage and fear, fear that it may have happened. All those horrible impossible things that would have shattered his life into pieces.

The feeling that he was being ripped apart by the wrath of his best friend. His heart breaking.

Trying to forget about the pain.

Trying to think about something else.

Because how dare they! How dare they attack Scyther who was only protecting the forest from those- those... No! His mind screamed, insisting that the Beedrill were _not_ monsters, just another living creature.

Then remembering the face of the Sea serpent with jaws powerful enough to crush boulders,, who was vulnerable to the attacks made by the Beedrill. Eventually forced to accept help from Scyther.

His mind was spinning. Visions of Scyther. The creature that had attacked him for no reason at all, who dared to hurt Sceptile.

The Creature who was as alive as any of them, who had a family and reasons of his own, who had given a home to Ash when he didn't have to.

Who was now alone.

Ash snapped out of his thoughts to glance at the faces of his worried friends who asked him if anything was wrong.

The trainer just shook his head and said that he needed some rest, prompting his friends to leave the room, Scepile returning to his aloof attitude, and Pikachu nuzzling his best friend before scampering out and closing the door behind him.

Ash sighed. Feeling the weight of the world falling onto his shoulder once more. His heart tearing in two, screaming to the heavens for someone to save him from this impossible situation.

"What's going on?" he asked the world, before collapsing onto the bed and closing his eyes.

Hoping for visions of Scyther, A piece of that strange otherworldly bond that they had formed with one another. The sensations that he felt in those brief moments he spent in the Scyther camp. Like a thousand heartbeats beating with the sound of one drum.

Then he thought of the friend that he had forgotten. That little Ditto who he had overlooked thinking about during his brief insane adventure.

He felt ashamed of himself for forgetting a friend before remembering that it was the Ditto that had started all of this.

He snapped open his eyes and felt his head, realising that his hat was no longer there, but soon discovered that it was by his bedside, along with a note from the resident Nurse Joy about how she had found it on the ground near to the training grounds and her hopes that he would get well soon.

He pulled at his hair and winced at the pain. Knowing that the Ditto wasn't there any more by the fact that his hair no longer had the consistency of goo.

He sighed and lay down in bed once more and closed his eyes to let rest take a hold of him, in hope that he would have another vision of Ditto in his dreams.

To his hearts despair, he saw nothing but darkness as sleep began to slowly take him.

His head wondering if it was for the best. That any more insanity would just be too much to take.

He hoped with his final thoughts that all of these problems would just go away, that he could just forget.

And as the calm black sea of sleep took him into its silent embrace he heard in the distance a child's giggle.

A flash of two innocent blue eyes.

And when he woke up the next morning, it was all forgotten.

Like amnesia.

* * *

Butas all of this was going on no one noticed another viewer. Scyther who looked on at Ash from outside the window. Standing tall and unmovable as the tempest of emotion raged and roared inside of him, twisting his gut into a series of knots.

It made sense, all of it.

The reason that the boy couldn't talk, the reason he didn't know even the simplest of things. Why he looked just like him, the face he thought he may have seen on the face of the offspring that evaded him in his dreams. A family that he knew he would never have.

It may have been that the boy was a Ditto, but that thought didn't placate the bug type. He'd never seen a Ditto reach that level of intellect that it took to grow beyond simple mimicry, and the way in which the boy had controlled his Sceptile, was a trait he had only ever heard of from the stories of humans that his Patron had entertained him with when he was just out of the egg.

The boy had even managed to beat him. With the help of others, yes. But still, it was _he_ who had dragged him into the river. Scyther had to offer the boy respect for that feat if nothing else.

Yet the logical part of him, full of fire and anger, hardened by years of swinging scythes and shattered abdomens. The part that had been forged by that harsh life of the neglected runt screamed at him to take his righteous vengeance against the human that dare play with his heart.

To kill and take him as he had done to many arrogant males before him.

He couldn't.

Because the boy was still his boy. A human yes, but still _his_ human as the swarm had dictated. The swarm, the part that made him one of the Bugs. Considered inferior my many, but, in reality far superior to most. All because of the swarm and the unbreakable bonds that it forged between hives, lovers, lineages and friends. A trait that was as valuable, if not more so than any form of elemental control.

The swarm had taken him to this boy who had hidden his true intentions, and he, no matter how hard the world-worn parts of him raged could not deny the will of that which his heart knew was right.

The boy was his apprentice, and Scyther could never harm him. The swarm had seen to that.

He spoke to the boy, the only words that he could. Knowing that the boy was asleep, that the boy couldn't hear him, and if the boy could, he probably wouldn't understand.

"If you need a home, you are always welcome with me."

And with that he flew away, back to the swarm that, now he realised, was only a swarm by name.

Returning to the lonely lost life at the edge of their place, to take on the worst of duties. Duties that he would have to shoulder on his own, until they wore him down to a shrivelled hulk of a Scyther once more, devoid of all but the desire for battle.

He did not know that a pair of innocent blue eyes besides Ash had heard his promise, and promised in turn to come back for him.

* * *

Scyther looked on at his Patron sitting at the edge of the river, feet lightly dipping the water, head sunken, defeated.

It was strange that his father had chosen this place of all places to mope. As it was here that he was defeated by the human who dragged him into the river. The human who would later make a swarm with him.

Scyther walked up to his Patron, purposely taking short, even, non-threatening steps. Until he was able to sit down besides his Patron who had not moved an inch.

Deciding to Start the conversation Scyther sighed, "I understand now."

His Patron gave Scyther an inquisitive eye, "about why you were always going on about the humans, trying to copy them, trying to be like them and why you couldn't stand to be near them."

"Good" his Patron responded, "I was wondering when the day would come. If it would come. I just wish that I didn't have to lose everything in the process... Your siblings, they never _understood_. Always more than happy to let me decide the winds for them, never flying in the other direction, never looking for hidden treasures, never asking _why_?"

The Elder mourned "_Why_ couldn't they see?" beseeching some unseen force in the heavens for an answer.

Scyther's Patron looked at him, eyes dancing with the shadows of a sad smile, "But it doesn't matter now, I've fallen to the… attackers, and the hive is broken. I don't think I could rebuild it all." He barked a laugh "I think I saw your brother and sister run off together. The scrawny one who's always on sentry duty, and the arrogant one who struts around like she owns the hive."

"A match made in the clouds" Scyther quipped.

Silence returned.

"Hey kiddo?"

"Yeah?"

"How'd you figure it out?"

"I met a human, and it all became clear to me."

"Oh" his Patron sighed, "the bo- your apprentice's trainer?"

"Yeah, you could say that."

"Ah" he sighed, knowing something of what had gotten his normally rebellious child almost as sad as he was. Then asked "What was the Trainer like?"

Scyther took a moment to process his thoughts and feelings for the boy before admitting, "He was... he was stupid. An absolute idiot."

"Like Pokémon like trainer"

"Yeah, but battling with him... It was like, like having someone by your side, do you know?"

"I know." His Patron admitted, "Did you know that their female's stay with the male's even if they're defeated." Scyther's eyes widened in surprise, "and if one male defeats another they don't kill and mate like we do."

"Are you sure?" Scyther asked sceptically, wondering if his father's stories of his time as a battler had become romanticised by age, "next you're going to tell me that they don't keep multiple mates." The Elder's eyes twinkled in amusement before he decided to change the topic of discussion.

"Did you know that they affect all Pokémon?" the Elder began. "To those of fire they feel like an eternal blaze. The ones of grass say they feel like the warmth of the sun, and to us they feel like, just being with them is like having the warm wind under your wings, lifting you up; the swarm and its ten thousand heartbeats." He looked sad.

"We are warriors by birth, it is our place in the world. But we do not realise that being a warrior is _nothing_, if we have nothing to fight for." The Elder continued and for a moment his offspring could see years of anguish in his eyes, attempts to shape their society to become more like that of those he admired only to be met by wall after wall by those who cared more for the mindless life of any other wild creature, "I hoped that I could have told _him_ that, that _he_ would have understood" and now it was too late.

"What'll you do now kiddo? Find a trainer of your own?" Sadness mixed with hope for the future.

"No." Scyther admitted to his Elder's surprise. "I don't think anyone else will compare."

"You'll never know if you don't try." his father probed.

"If I tried, I wouldn't be myself." Scyther admitted to his father's joy.

"So you'll follow this mystery man?"

"Yes" Scyther admitted, "but not yet, he hasn't exactly got the best impression of me, I don't think."

"so..."

"So I'll travel, and learn, and maybe meet him again in the future."

"ahh"

"and you?"

"I…" his father stopped, finding himself lost for words.

"Because you're not following me" Scyther joked, leaning his head to the side, hoping that his father would pick up the joke.

"Like some Father-son thing?"

"Because that would be horrible"

"Oh, I'm not sure. We may meet some females along the way. Or even better some males."

Scyther just groaned in response, "Whatever you say… daddy-o"

"No" his father responded.

"But"

"Never ever again call me that"

"But" and just like that, even if only for a moment, things were all right again.

"Never call me that. Ne_-ver_!"

* * *

_In case you were worried that this may be the end… let me tell you it isn't, there's still more fun to come with my patented DNA blender._

_All in all, this massive 4 chapter arc was a surprise for me because I had originally intended all of this to last for just one chapter worth around two thousand words and you all can see just how well that panned out? Heck, I didn't even intend for this to be the start of the story, I had something much more cliché/obscure in mind… and Scyther was supposed to be a through and through baddie. But it's been fun to write about the theme of friendship, a first for me, but a rewarding one to discover Ash's bonds build and break between the lines of friend and foe whilst he tried to take control of his new 'gift'._

_Then there was the culture of the Scyther which I fell in love with building. I also fell in love with writing Scyther's character and couldn't help but give him a proper send off. Although I can't help but wonder what would have happened if Ash had stayed with the clan… perhaps I'll just leave that to your imagination._

_So I'd love to hear your reviews as to how it all went down for you, they're like food for my meme and, more importantly, ensure that my ego doesn't implode with the force of seven thousand party poppers._

_Next chapter: We discover the answer to the greatest secret in the universe… Why is Ash so thick?_


	5. B 5

This chap_ter takes place after the 13th Pokémon movie, Zoroark: Master of Illusions  
_

"_Let us go then, you and I,_

_When the evening is spread out against the sky"_

* * *

The night was young, the first of the stars only beginning to pop out from behind the dark blue sky. The silhouettes of the final group of residents scurrying to move their possessions back in to their homes before the warm pastel coloured lights of the sunset washed away and the darkness of night time overcame their sweet little town.

But there was one who had a different agenda after the revelations of the day.

Zoroark stood in the corner of a building, allowing the shadows to conceal her large and dominating frame from whatever night crawlers still stumbled across the streets at this late hour. As it hadn't been long since she was cleared from the accusations made by the mad man and humans had infamous short memory loss when it came to such things. One that could easily switch to a mob mentality if even one of them happened to stumble across her in these half deserted streets.

Zoroark looked across the street at the sleeping boy who had a hand in saving her child. Looking from distance he didn't seem to appear impressive, but then again, many wouldn't have predicted that _she_ would be able to the things she could do by a mere glimpse.

_If_ she allowed them to see her that is.

But weary of the possible repercussions, she waited for the sun to set; it wasn't long before night had fallen on the town.

She was safe in the knowledge that her child was asleep next to the boys Pikachu after having worn themselves out from an… interesting game of hide and seek. Of course, this meant the boy… _Ash_ was left to sleep in his hotel room alone to toss and turn in his dreams,

The boy and his friends had been exhausted by the day's events, taking care of and helping Zorua in a foreign world where the Tyrant would have used her little mon as another tool to further his own evil plans.

It was a wonder that Zorua had allowed the boy to see her; it was a wonder that she even trusted him enough to speak the human language whilst in his presence. Zoroark didn't ever use her Lord given abilities if she couldn't help it, and after the shock of battle had worn off, after Celebi had left and the Tyrant thrown into a dark cage so similar to the one that he had sent her into, she asked her little one _why?_

Why did she trust a human with her safety and freedom when he could just have been another mindless _dolt_ intent on throwing attacks and balls at them as if they were trinkets to be collected?

Zorua just giggled and said to her Meema that whilst Ash may be as smart as a Magikarp, he was kin. Zoroark, puzzled asked her little one how she could tell, because it almost always took a lot of time before any Pokémon could judge that a human was not just another greedy buffoon.

Zorua just looked puzzled, as if her Meema had missed the most obvious thing in the world and then said "but he's not human. He's a Pokémon."

Zoroark looked on in puzzlement, but Zorua explained "He smelt like a Pokémon, so he's not a human!"

"Are you sure?" Zoroark asked "you must remember that he is a trainer so what you smelt could have been the smell of any of his Pokémon, maybe his Pikachu."

"No Meema!" the little Pokémon protested, "He smells like, zo-" she stopped, gagging slightly to her meema's shock as the young Pokémon's speech pattern lowered in pitch and turning rougher, "Zorua" Her voice lightened as she switched back to the human speech, "he smells like a" it lowered, "Zorua."

Which was ridiculous, absolutely and completely ridiculous, and crazy. She didn't tell her kit that. But her little Zorua's assumptions about the human were completely ridiculous.

But regardless, Zoroark didn't want to argue with her family, especially on the same night that they had been reunited and let her little one go to sleep with the Pikachu.

It was ridiculous because Pokémon could _never_ be trainers, no matter how hard they tried or how much they practiced, it always ended in disaster. Always.

But Zorua looked like she really believed it. Like she truly believed that…

Zoroark's rational mind countered that the boy just had a strange smell, probably from not bathing reguarly or using one of those strange perfumes that humans tended to adorn themselves with. _That_ was in all likelihood the case. But a niggling doubt grew in the back of Zoroark's head and she resolved to put all doubts to rest and find out about this trainers strange body odour. For the sake of her kit.

The wind fell silent as she stepped out of the shadow she had used to conceal herself, her illusion of invisibility forming with a faint red glow and covering her from head to toe as she walked across the street. It wouldn't be good for any of the humans to find out that she was breaking into a house when she had just managed to convince them that she wasn't some crazy town destroying monster.

She strode across the street, as swiftly as she could without making a sound whilst keeping her illusion up. The few people who were returning to their homes after the citywide evacuation were none the wiser.

Once she was at the window, she concentrated and used the 'Sharpen Claws' technique, covering her claws in a dark glow that, for a brief moment seeped through her illusion alongside the sharp sound of steel striking against steel that rang through the street.

Zoroark looked around and was relieved that no one was there to have noticed her actions.

She placed one claw in the gap between the window and the frame, slicing upward in a single swift movement creating a sharp Clack sound that told her that the lock had just been sliced in two. It was sloppy work but she would be going home tomorrow, and this was a mystery that needed solving _now_.

She grabbed the window and began to push slowly, hoping not to make any sound as it opened- Crrrreeeaaakkk.

She wanted to facepalm. Knowing that the boy's got to be awake by- "No May, it's my Chicken noodle soup."

'_He couldn't still be asleep, could he?' _Zoroark asked herself, looking through the now open window as the boy turned to his side mumbling something about not wanting to play dress up.

Zoroark reminded herself to tell her kit that the boy was more a Snorlax-Slowpoke hybrid than a Magikarp and went through the now open door frame.

Her body tuned itself from years of experience at staying hidden. Her body tensing itself, her breathing becoming shallow so as not to alert the boy who had fallen silent.

She began to study him in the safest way possible and scanned every inch of him with her sharp eyes, seeing nothing that she didn't see before. All reason told her that bar the fact that he helped save her and her kit he appeared to be just another average human, _'Although'_ the doubt in her mind shouted, even then she couldn't be sure considering her limited interactions with the boy's species.

She brought her snout in closer and took a deep breath, smelling the odd smell that he had about him, like... _Ashes_. How fitting. Mixed in with- with the calm and earthy scent of the woodland, the dark and rich smell of earth alongside the energising scent of the trees and the bushes. Nothing unusual for a creature that had just come out of the forest.

But there, again there was something else mixed in with it, something faint and distant, like the woodland, and yet not of it. Distinct.

She moved her snout over to his head and felt the smell change completely as the smell of a Pokémon began to dominate, different from a Zorua. This smell was more energetic, more lively. Probably the scent of his Pikachu who she had seen use the boys shoulder as a perch. She had to congratulate the little mouse for finding a novel utility to humanity.

But then _that_ smell came again, a faraway smell so distant and muddled that it was both unique and indescribable at the same time, was this was Zorua smelt?

No, _no _it couldn't be. Zorua said that she smelt something that resembled herself and this smelt nothing like her little kit.

She drew her claw closer to the boy, if he was one of their kin than this façade of a 'boy trainer' was probably an illusion.

Her claw moved to his cheek. An expert illusion, perhaps. Her claw moved closer. One that would have managed to somehow mask his scent, but an illusion nonetheless that could be easily dispelled by a touch.

The moment her furred paw laid against his cheek a snap in her brain forced her to freeze her actions. _'What did I just do?'_

There was no need to do this and threaten to wake him up, she would never have done anything so foolish if not for the wild imagination of her kit and even _if_ this was an illusion, it would be best to leave it as something that should be left alone, lest it be a detriment to her trip back home.

She looked at her frozen paw, still holding the boy's face so… tenderly would be the word she would have used to describe her motion if only because of a lack of other words to use.

She took a deep breath, in and out; maintaining her upmost silence as she slowly lifted her paw from the sleeping boy's cheek.

She looked at him intently as his eyes remained closed and seeing that he was still asleep, held back a sigh of relief.

She swiftly stood up and began to move back towards the window, no longer willing to risk her and her child's safety for the need of fulfilling a mere intellectual curiosity.

Before she left she took a final glance at the boy to ensure that he was still asleep, and was relieved to see that he was left undisturbed.

But then she took a second glance, something strange catching her attention. She saw a small amount of dark hair on top of the cheek that she had touched and wondered how it had gotten off of her paw.

She moved back towards the boy, looking at her paw and realising that she still had all of _her_ fur still on her.

Her head moved as close to the boy's face as she could move it whilst still keeping things relatively safe. And in doing so, noticed that the patch of fur was actually sticking out from his cheek.

Her heart beat intensified and her breath became sharper. She knew now that there was some truth to her kit's words, but for now she was stuck here on the edge, the will to go away from this creature growing in intensity, but being rivalled by an even louder shout within her that roared with a mighty thunder to go forward.

As her mind went through the turmoil that threw all her thoughts into disarray her paws began to move, intoxicated by the thrill of unmasking this creature. Piece by piece, her resolve to run crumbling to dust as she slowly began to realise that there was no going back.

Her paw caressed his cheek, momentarily going over the odd patch of fur in its path as the skin vanished to be replaced by dark grey fur. It was stunning, like watching Celebi breathe life to the forest.

This was amazing. She had to find a way to continue her unmasking of this male without alerting him, and _that_ was in any circumstance no simple task. She had to find a way to touch every corner of his body without his waking up, and perhaps even take off his clothes. Assuming that they weren't an illusion as well.

Her first thought took hold as she moved up and over to the bed, took off the covers and propped herself up on top of him. A position of dominance in case he woke up and a position that (a part of her brain argued) was rather provocative. She castigated herself for her thoughts, this entire situation was provocative.

She felt excitement run through her entire body, in every hair, in every bone, shaking her spine with electric shocks, forcing her heart to move at a breakneck pace, and ripping the air right out of her lungs.

She bought her muzzle down to his face and looked at his sleeping form. The boy's innocent baby face half covered with fur. A sort of tainted innocence.

Her long arms slid under his shirt and lifted it up in a smooth and gentle motion and took it off in an instant. Eliciting only the smallest of sounds, and leaving the boy undisturbed.

She brought her paws down to his sides, and gently stroked upwards, watching in wonder as the fur popped up in all the places that she had touched.

A sudden urge gripped her and she brought her snout down to his stomach, brushing it upwards from his belly button to his chest, whilst taking in a deep deep breath.

She let her nose dance in the sensation. The forest had gone and left only the ashes in its place, and the deep rich and spicy scent of a Zoroark. A fleeting and forbidden wish in her heart wondered if this male was mature enough for what she would deny to wanting, but even as her fading professional half protested, the half thought twisted her stomach in anticipation.

_More_ the rush of fire in her head screamed, and slowly her muscles tensed as she began to gradually change the image of the young boy into something that was much more _striking_.

Covered in hair like an untamed Wildman. Primitive and ferocious.

Her arms began to wrap around him like the coils of a snake bringing him closer as her snout smelt every inch of him, becoming intoxicated with the scent, intoxicated with the forbidden desire.

Then she heard him moan. A small sharp intake of breath that made her freeze completely, followed up by movement as he wriggled to try and become more comfortable in her firm grip.

She was snapped out of her haze and noticed that she was now on her side, the boy wrapped up in her arms, and his legs entangled with hers.

She took a moment to breathe, smelling only smoke and fire that threatened to burst into an inferno if she didn't try to bring some control upon her actions.

She tried to distract herself by looking through his hair. His hair which was so unlike that of her kind, but the moment her claws touched it, it grew longer and smoother. Another electric shock engulfed her as she looked on this strange development take place, wanting to know just what technique her kin had used to hide himself so effectively.

But her paws once more took up a life of their own and began to comb through his hair to make it grow longer, and larger. Then it began to change in colour. The deep black slowly becoming highlighted by a vibrant red. And then as she clawed a strand and bought it up to her face it began to change once more to a deep purple.

Her heart was pounding at the sight of what was possibly, quite possibly the most precious thing she had ever seen. A _shiny_ of her kind, having known that her kind were rare enough that the only one she had met as of yet had been her little kit who she had adopted.

A growl rose as she felt an unfamiliar strength rise up inside of her, ready to claim this male as hers, so that she could keep him as her own, either mate or kit. Her grip tightened.

Then he began to shuffle once, squirming in the clutches of the female that had now completely restricted his movement, and as another growl rose up her throat it was met with a moan on his part that acted like a kick to her heart, forcing it to pound with a heavy beat.

But the scent began to arise once more. Pulling her under, deeper and deeper until her body was not her own any more, but completely engulfed by the scent that was now drowning her.

Zoroark's snout roamed over every inch of him, her mouth opening to let out her panting tongue and her motions becoming a blur of strokes that she was licking him all over, changing him, shaping him like clay as the boy slowly began to lose his human features and began to appear more like her, more like a Zoroark.

His face was the first to change as she licked up from the cheeks, slowly forming the snout; all the while her chest began to feel heavier with the feel of the fur on his chest.

He groaned, eyes closed tight, tossing and turning as she began to explore and alter every piece of him to her liking, to something better.

All done to the soundtrack of his groans only served to fuel her assault as the heat inside of him began to grow deeper and more intense.

His breaths grew sharper and sharper, until he opened his eyes, mind racing at the strange feeling that caressed him all over. The endless warmth and softness of fur that now surrounded him.

He screamed a soundless cry in panic, she tightened her grip and then it was all a blur or black and red and purple until she was torn with roaring tension and he was petrified with fear.

She stopped, having run out of steam, realising in a part of her mind that she was close to having lost herself to her baser instincts.

He opened his eyes, feeling the strange yet familiar sensation of a cold sweat surround him. And as he turned, he saw the familiar face of Zoroark staring down at him with her piercing blue eyes.

He froze in utter fear, every inch of him locking in position as the child inside of him begged to be back home and in the safe and familiar arms of his mother.

As their eyes locked Zoroark felt a shifting in the boy. Not movement, she knew from the horror on the boy's face that he wasn't moving, but something _different _was happening. His arms were changing size and shape, she could feel it. They were growing longer, his whole body was growing longer, stronger, more _different_. More akin to the glorious shape of a Zoroark as she held him.

And through all of the changes she held him, disappointed at herself and her actions in the case that he was still just a young one that had evolved early, and was now forced into the awkward position that he was in now.

But her sense of property only grew and she knew that _he_ was still hers. She may have gotten a little overzealous in removing his innovative illusion, but even then she had not, in any way violated him, and as she stared into his eyes she made a promise to herself to keep him with the same vigilance that she had kept a hold of her kit.

But then the pounding of her heart began to rise once more as his eyes, the brown eyes that she was staring into began to shift and change in colour, becoming a lighter shade of brown, and then turning to green before settling on blue the colour of her kind. A blue that seemed to mirror her own.

He was hers.

She snapped out of her gaze when she realised just how long they had been fixed in that intimate position and broke it with a quick and friendly lick of the cheek, as if the tell the boy… no Ash, _her_ Ash that everything was fine; then feeling him relax in her grasp as a result. As he began to find her hold on him more comforting than terrifying.

He then had a look of confusion in his eyes as he opened his new mouth to ask a question, only to be forced to let out an odd groaning sound.

He stopped in surprise as Zoroark loosened her grip on him.

He opened his mouth once more in an attempt to make a coherent word pass his lips but to his despair everything he said became a jumbled mess of groans and grunts.

His eyes became filled with sorrow as Zoroark detached herself from the boy completely, and got off of the bed.

He took a moment to come to his senses and realised that it would be best if he got up, but as he moved his arms he was assaulted by the alien feeling of moving around the two large and unwieldy limbs.

He tried moving them again, only to get strange, jerky responses as they flailed about. Then he looked down at them and saw large grey paws.

A beat passed and he began hyperventilating. His new, more pronounce chest moving forward and backward as he wheezed, but Zoroark moved onto him in an instant, lifting him and wrapping him in her arms around his slightly smaller frame, whispering soothing noises in his pointed ears until he calmed down completely.

When she sensed that he was alright she loosened her hold, only to discover that he had fallen asleep in her arms, exhausted from what she could only guess was the trauma.

He was a Zoroark, she was sure of that, or at least he was a Zoroark _now_. There was something odd about Ash, something that unnerved her slightly... as if she could barely see anything regarding the situation she had found herself in. And for the sake of her kits, both Zorua and Ash, this was a worrying position to be in.

There was a chance that this was all an elaborate illusion; reason would suggest that that would be the most rational answer. But even _that_ didn't seem to make any sense, and for the safety of the boy that was now _her_ _Ash_ she would not dare to make any assumptions that could endanger him.

Perhaps this was a meeting set up by the Legendaries, a meeting that she had failed to notice and perhaps, just perhaps he wasn't a Pokémon, or at least he wasn't before _this_. No Pokémon had ever taken on a role as a trainer, it always ended in disaster, therefore there was no way that he was a full Pokémon. No way at all.

Her instincts screamed to her of the unnaturalness of it all. The blasphemy of putting together a human and a Pokémon so seamlessly.

No, this was all different, he was hers! And she would find out what was going on.

But what if she couldn't? She sighed, knowing that in that case all she could do was help him to adapt for the time when he would 'officially' join her and her kit.

She moved him back to the bed, holding him as if he was the most precious thing in the world, an in a way he was the most precious thing in the world, on level to her kit at the very least.

She went outside the same was she had managed to get in, maintaining absolute silence throughout. When outside she discovered that the town was now bathed in the light of the night sky. The lights of the stars blinking above her, trailing across the sky as if it was a trail of spilled milk.

Divine. She wondered briefly if the legends she had represented all of her life knew what was wrong with her.

If there was some divine plan to explain the hole inside of her that had been ripping her insides more and more lately.

If filling the hole with this boy as her own would end the longing that she felt.

She sighed, knowing that the ship back home would have to wait. Her little mon would probably be ecstatic at the idea, but there were plans she would have to make if her Ash's secret was to remain so, and her first stop would be to wake up her kit and her boy's little Pikachu. There was some explaining and planning to do, and in this mission she would not fail.

* * *

Ash groaned as a few stray rays of sunlight hit his closed eyelids.

He felt strange. Heavy, as if he had been buried under a pile of sand and every motion he made required some extra effort.

But his struggle to get up was, as always, a half-hearted one and he saw fit to just sleep the morning away.

Of course it was at that moment that he heard a strange voice call out to him "hey, _wakey wakey_."

It wasn't a voice that he could remember recognising. It was feminine, high pitched… almost childlike, yet maintaining a smoothness that signified maturity.

Then again he wasn't known for his amazing memory so he might know her from somewhere.

"Yes, your memory sucks, but you can blame me for that… a little, heh" the voice answered to Ash's surprise "and yes you doooo know me, but I'ma not gonna _tell_ you sweet cheeks cos that'd be bo-_ring_" and all of a sudden Ash had gone from half asleep to completely awake, opening his eyes to search for this mystery person, only to find an empty room.

"But I'm not one of those super-crazy take-over the world and rule over it with an iron fist sort of gals so you don't gotta worry about that, nu-uh. Heck I've kept you safe… how many times now? Hmmm?"

Ash panicked, still not finding the source of the voice.

"and you're not gonna find me until you reach at least level six you adorable little munchkin you. Besides, I'm on your side, and hopefully we can sort out your little transformation."

Transformation? Ash wondered.

"Didn't you notice?" the voice asked as Ash looked down to his body in horror, "you're a Zoroark now"

* * *

_Well that was a risky chapter for me. Heavy on the descriptions, and well… Zoroark, I'm scared that people may not agree with what I made her do (or that the writing suggested that she did something that she didn't), but I'm trying to set her up as a passionate, professional, lonely and slightly insane Pokémon, who is fiercely devoted to all those close to her and seeks a family of any sort. As they are all that she has. _

_There's also our new mystery friend who I personally can't wait to have fun with._

_And, oh yeah, Ash is a new Pokemon now! what do you think of that!_

_But yeah, it was a slow start, and the writing style was a little different to the rest of the story, but I think it worked relatively well. What do you guys think? Good, bad, more lemons? Review and tell me…_


	6. B 6

_Thank you to all my reviewers. I had another chapter all ready for release, but after reading your heartfelt messages I realised that it'd break the flow and decided to leave it for later. Then wrote this up, just for you guys._

_:)_

* * *

"Heeeey" the voice asked in concern "Ashy, you awake?"

"Woo hoo," she continued, "wakey wakey" but received no response from the boy turned Pokémon who just looked down at his claws in horror.

"Erm" the voice paused to think of something that would snap the boy out of his trance, "I got cake"

And like the crack of a whip Ash snapped out of his trance, scanning the room fiercely for the elusive trickster that turned him into _this._

But just as quickly as he started he was interrupted by a giggle, "Silly sausage, you can't _see_ me."

Ash tried to decipher in his head the things that the voice had just said and it must have shown on his face because the voice just giggled at him.

"you can't _see_ me. Because I'm not _here_." The voice answered, bringing about another wave of questions in the boys mind .

"But don't you worry you're pretty little head about all that nonsense" the voice interrupted once more "first we got to ask ourselves what dastardly villain could do these devious doings."

Ash's brain began to spin as he opened his mouth to try and talk to this person, only to release a painful heave of dry air from his mouth.

Ignorant to Ash's pain the Voice carried on, "and what's up with alliteration, everyone knows that onomatopoeia's a much better word. Heck, you know what? I think that onomatopoeia should burn alliteration's house down… with lemons!"

Yet this didn't dissuade Ash as he continued to try and talk, letting out a dry growl that stopped the voice in its tracks.

"Huh? What's up baby cakes? Need a glass of water?" the voice asked as Ash panted, "Aww, sorry but I'm a little incorporeal at the moment. I know about a T.V. show that teaches you how to make your own water though."

Ash whined in desperation, feeling her words ring through his head as if she was talking from right in front of him.

"Sorry, I haven't translated the _'uwwww'_ language as of yet, but I'm working on it. Are you _still_ unable to talk or something?"

Ash nodded his head with fervour, glad to see this conversation go somewhere constructive. The voices light hearted demeanour, having already erased most of the doubt he had about its motives.

"Well" the voice drawled, "I'm not really sure why you can't. When _Mr Blobby_ decided to keel over and scramble your precious vital fluids, I'm _pretty_ sure the ability should have passed on to you" Ash once again found himself clueless, "and then I suppressed the variables that he introduced and locked away the curse which may have suppressed your learning curve."

The voice paused before restarting, "But then again there was that whole business with the Scyther where you were all _ninja_ and didn't say nothin', maybe you weren't just being mysterious… heh, whod've figured?"

Ash blinked, finding himself utterly perplexed. What Scyther business?

"Huh?" the voice responded and Ash could feel as if she was watching him, "Confused? Well I guess you would be, what with the way you used Amnesia, heck, I never did manage to figure out how you managed to use that."

Ash didn't know if he wanted her to keep talking to try and help as she seemed to be doing now, or to be quiet and give time for his head to rest for a moment.

"But oh well" she answered, deciding things for him "cest la vie and all that humbug." Then paused.

"Oh yeah, you can't talk." Another pause, "Try talking again." Ash groaned but complied in an attempt to say the phrase '_hello'_ but only coming up with a strange gargling sound.

"Well that didn't work out well. You tried to say something human didn't you?" Ash nodded, "Gosh you are _sooo_ predictable. It's a little embarrassing really."

Suddenly Ash wished for a little silence as she began to list his flaws. "You forget things at an alarming rate, you're cliché at times, you don't know what ten times ten is and you know what? You should call your mother more often, she's probably worried sick about you and all those shenanigans you get up to." She paused.

"Where was I? Oh yeah! Philosophy! Now try to say something like _'Zoroark'_"

Ash blinked at the request but eventually complied and managed to successfully let out a scratchy rendition of his new species name. But before Ash could find some pride in his accomplishment the disembodied voice beat him to the punch.

"Oh _yeah_! Who's the daddy? 'The Voice' is the daddy." Ash rolled his eyes, "Don't you roll your eyes at me Mr." she scolded "I don't care how adorable you are, in every internal monologue you have from now on, you shall address me as" her voice turned low and masculine "_The Daddy_"

Ash paused, disturbed beyond measure. Wondering momentarily what the word 'monologue' meant. But tossed it away as one of those made up words that crazy people decided to come up with when they were bored.

With nothing else to do he decided to try and speak once more. He took a deep breath, trying to get a feel for the vocal chords that he had used prior and let out another, stronger "Zoroark" pass through his lips.

"Huh?" the voice answered, "That sounded like you were trying to say-"

They heard the sound of activity from outside of the door and froze in place until the sounds had begun to disappear once again.

"That's not good" The Voice said, echoing Ash's thoughts "if they find us… well. It _could_ be good, but it could also be bad. I mean remember the hive?" Ash didn't remember but still understood the intent behind The Voice's words.

"We have to get out" The Voice said, quickly earning the approval of Ash who nodded in response.

"We can get out from… we can get out from" Ash looked at the window. "The window! Of course! That's the perfect idea, why didn't you think of it. Clearly I'm a genius!" Ash felt an urge to roll his eyes. "Now come on, we have to get out of here."

Ash hesitated but was spurred on by an irritated shout of "Now!" which caused his unruly legs to rush forward and slam him into the wall.

As he reoriented himself he heard an odd smacking sound, "In case you were wondering. That was the sound of me… face palming myself"

Ash shrugged off his annoyance and tried to get off of the floor using his new and larger arms to push himself upwards on all fours.

Noticing for a brief moment the strange sensation of moving musces that weren't his own. But as before the voice cut in. "Geeze, you weren't this clumsy the last time… but then again…" Ash felt like pulling out his hair! What last time?

"The big guy helped you, didn't he? Yeah, look. You're in a different body so all those instincts that you're used to won't work. So you're going to have to try and look for your new ones." What was she talking about now? "_Think_" she scolded him, "You're a Zoroark now, you can make illusions that rival the real thing and harness the power of the shadows."

But Ash wasn't convinced. He couldn't _really _do that stuff, could he? He was a human. Sure he was in a different body, but the things that made him _him_. The important things, the things that really mattered hadn't changed at all. They couldn't!

Could they?

"Snap out of it!" he heard her shout, "_please_. I don't want to see you get hurt" she urged, making him briefly wonder why that was so.

But then they heard a knocking on the door, "Ash?" it was Brock, "You in there? I heard some noise."

Ash whimpered and covered his face, knowing that it was too late now. He was alone, an insane boy who thinks that he's Pokémon with a little girls voice inside of his head.

What would his friends do to him? Try to help him by giving him to some professor who would run test after test on him. Keep him as a Pokémon and catch him as one of their own.

"_Ash, come on. Snap out of it!_"

And what if they thought that he was just some Pokémon who had broken into the room and harmed their friend? What would they do then?

He heard the door open, along with Mew mutter something mournfully.

"Ash?" Brock whispered into the room as the boy turned Pokémon hid his face in shame, folding in on himself, trying his best to try and hide himself from the judging gaze of his friends.

"Sleeping like a baby" Brock said to himself. Ash looked up in shock as the elder boy walked out of the room and gently closed the door, leaving only silence behind him.

"No… way" came the prompt sound of his acquaintance reminding Ash that he still had his hallucinations to keep him company.

"No- crackajacking way." She continued, "How the? Who the? Did you just make an _illusion_? How in the world did you do that! You can't even stand up, there is no way you can- you know what, I'm gonna find an imaginary wall to beat my imaginary head against. Maybe _then_ this'll all make sense." And whilst Ash was sceptical of her claims, she did produce adequate sound effects.

Eventually Ash tuned out her antics and colourful language and focused on getting back upon his own two feet. Trying his best to remember the advice that was given to him.

Something about instincts and using his new ones. He didn't know if he had any but then again there wasn't any harm in trying. He reached deep into himself and stood up, suddenly finding a shift in his movement from his first comical attempts to something much more composed.

He studied his posture and noticed how he had naturally managed to get into a hunched pose that he had seen Zorua's Meema use. He moved his leg one at a time, using his hands- _paws_ for support and found the motion comfortable, if a little alien.

He moved again and felt a power inside of him.

As if it was there all along, all strung up, ready to be let loose at a moment's notice.

Power, he couldn't believe just how strong he felt.

It was only then that he noticed just how _small_ his room looked and like a click in his head he realised that he had grown larger.

Perhaps things weren't so bad after all?

"Yay!" but then again "You finally got the hang of standing up! _Woo hoo_. Now come on, I've got no idea if you can pull that little illusion trick off again so we got to skedaddle." The voice said.

"Come on Fido," she continued when she noticed that Ash hadn't moved a muscle "Let's find out if you can learn how to walk and when we're out of here I'm gonna have a word with you about your self-esteem issues."

So with a little regret on his part Ash followed the orders of the voice and stumbled his way out of the window.

Hitting his head twice on the frame on the way out. His new instincts not capable of letting his larger frame climb out of windows just yet.

* * *

Zoroark managed to make her way through the streets, slightly unnerved at the sheer speed at which time that had passed during the night that she had been with Ash.

_No_, wait. That was really bad phrasing. The time she was in bed with- _wait_, the time that she broke into Ash's room- _no_.

Ugh.

_Regardless_, the night was slipping away like sand between her claws. The sky already beginning to light up in the horizon from the inky black that she preferred and thrived under, to the lighter pastel shades of the morning.

It surely hadn't taken the whole night? What in the world had taken hold of her that it… no, she had to get to her child.

So shaking off any remaining doubts that she had she made her way towards the Pokémon centre where Zorua slept with the new friend that she made and in a flurry of elegant strides she was there.

She managed to slip past the doors, briefly covering herself in her illusions so as to evade the security cameras and any nurses that may have been walking amongst the corridors.

An image of the buildings layout began to form in her hear as she made her way to the secure back part of the centre where the Pokémon slept safe and sound.

It didn't take long for her to find her child in a basket with her new yellow playmate. Zoroark smiled, yet felt a slight pang of regret as she watched her child sleeping.

This was the night that they had finally been reunited and yet her kit had gone to sleep with another Pokémon. Was she growing up?

The questions were forced to stop as Zorua shook in the basket. Her Meema's heart freezing at the thought that her kit may be having a nightmare, but then her child's bright blue eyes opened up and looked upon her mother, a groggy smile appearing as she acknowledge the elder, still cloaked in shadow.

"Hey meema." Her kit said in her native tongue, having switched to it after being reprimanded from her parent as to the dangers of speaking human in a populated area where a bunch of greedy humans were out to get her.

"Good morning little one"

"Meema" Zorua groaned, looking around at the dark room, "is it even morning?"

"Just about my little star" she whispered softly, the joy in her heart blossoming from hearing the sweet voice of her loved one.

"Aww" Zorua moaned, slumping back into her bed, "Can't we sleep for just a _little _longer?"

"Now now" Zoroark prodded, gently lifting her little one out of her bed and onto the floor beside it "You can't get used to staying awake during the day. And besides there's something important that I have to talk with you about."

"Important?" Zorua echoed, her ears swivelling to attention, "like _Top Secret_ important?"

"Something like that" Zoroark whispered, "but first. What about your friend?"

Zorua looked puzzled for a moment before she realised that her Meema was looking over to the basket. "Oh you mean Pikachu?" Zoroark nodded, "Oh, he's sleeping. Did you know that he likes ketchup? Like _really_ likes ketchup, he drunk a whole bottle down in one go!"

Zoroark smiled, the youthful joy in her child's eyes making herself feel younger.

"That's nice my little star" she purred "But we're going to need to wake him up. This is something that needs his attention as well as yours."

"Wake him up?" Zorua repeated to herself, running the conundrum through her head until a solution presented itself like the flicking of a light bulb. "I got an idea!"

The little one rushed up to Pikachu's ear, to her mother's amusement and began to whisper to the electric type. "Pikachu."

"Hmm, yeah" he groaned in his sleep.

"It's me. Your friend."

"My… dend" Pikachu echoed groggily.

"I've just found out a horrible truth" Zorua whispered, her tone laced with distress.

"That's nice." Pikachu mumbled, twisting around to try and fall back to sleep.

"The ketchup is a lie." Zorua continued.

"The ketchup is a lie." Came the echo.

"There is no more ketchup" Zorua's tone left no room for questioning.

"No… ketchup" Pikachu sounded distressed.

"It's all gone"

"Gone" the electric type began to twitch as if he was going through a nightmare.

Zorua's eyes glinted with mischief "There's only… _mayonnaise_"

"NOOOO!"

* * *

The walk outside was a little awkward for Ash. He tried to slink around the town as if he was some ninja, but only managed to make himself look ridiculous. A fact that was broken to him every time a group of early morning joggers would pass by him and stare as if they were wondering how they could ever assume that this creature had threatened the safety of their town.

His invisible companion hadn't said anything; however that was probably because she was humming the Mission Impossible tune.

Regardless, it was an unnerving walk to the outskirts of the town after that. Mainly because of the urge Ash would have to act inconspicuous. Which was something that a dark, seven foot fox with bushy hair would find fairly difficult to do after dawn.

But he did eventually manage to make it outside of the town. Having gotten lost only five times. His companion stopping her little tune and telling him, without any sound of hesitation that he should "go and ask somebody for directions. What's the worst that could happen?"

He ignored her.

Eventually they found themselves at the edge of town, besides a pond right next to the surrounding forests.

Ash decided to take a drink from the pond, the morning's activities leaving him a little thirsty.

In the distance he heard his companions amazed voice squeal "Ohmygosh ohmygosh ohmygosh" in wonder at the sight of nature around her, "It's a tree! A real _tree_, and I can see it! _I can see it_!"

And Ash was just happy that she wasn't talking to him about the… stuff that she talked about. He'd forgotten most of what she had said, trying to tune it into the background noise with surprising ease.

"And bushes! _Ohmygosh_! Look how cute it is! It's got spikes, the bush is trying to act cool, aww that's sooo _adorable_. Ash, Ash come here, see the _cool_ bush"

Ash felt a warmth pool in his heart, at hearing his… whatever she was sound so happy at the simplest of things.

By now it didn't seem as if she had any malevolent intent towards him. Even if she was the one who put this curse onto him, it sounded as if she just wanted to have some fun, and make his ears bleed whilst doing it.

He looked back down to the pond, bringing his gaze away from where he thought that her ethereal form may have been. And what he saw in his reflection froze him to the core.

His companion chirped, "If only the bush was purple like your hair, but alas."

His world was ending.

"I like purple, do you like purple?"

No.

"Maybe we should take a trip to the salon."

* * *

The trio of Pikachu, Zoroark and Zorua had been pushed outside by Pokémon who were given a rude awakening from Pikachu's outburst.

Pikachu was miserable beyond words, whilst Zorua was bouncing with joy, "I'm telling you, I had the worst dream ever."

"What did it involve?" Zorua smirked.

"Pirates, and explosions and-"

"Excuse me?" Zoroark intervened. "I have something important to tell you."

"Huh? Is that why we're out here. I thought it was because somebody let off some gas and they thought it was Zorua."

"Oi!" the little one shouted, "Not funny! _Besides_ I want to hear more about Pikachu's" snort "_dream_"

"Well I was a pirate fighting hordes of sea ninjas and-"

"_Excuse me_." Zoroark interrupted again, amused at how quickly the two of them had managed to shake off the after effects of sleep.

"Huh? Oh yeah, you were gonna say stuff. Don't worry I'm listening." Pikachu responded, appearing in any case as if he couldn't care less as long as he could go find a bed to sleep in.

"It's about your trainer." Pikachu's attention was now completely focused on her.

"What about him?"

"Something's happened." Zoroark answered, not knowing how exactly to relay last night's events to the little yellow Pokémon.

"Yeah?"

"It's not bad, but it's just something that happened to-"

"What happened?"

"Well you know your trainer?"

"Are you going to say it or am I going to have to run over there to find out myself?" Zorua smacked Pikachu lightly for talking like that when her Meema was clearly trying to let the truth out.

"You see your trainer has…" she paused for a moment to collect her thoughts "The boy. _Ash_, has transformed into a Pokémon, a Zoroark exactly."

"Really?" Pikachu asked.

"Really"

"Well…" he sighed "wouldn't be the first time."

"Huh?"

"What did he do now? Pull your hair and invoke a thousand year curse?"

"What, _no_!"

"Tempt a witch into making him see through the eyes of others?"

"No!"

"Try to punch a Legendary in the face?"

"NO!" Zoroark shouted, "He did not, He did not. How did you even come up with those scenarios?"

"Personal experience"

"Personal…" Zoroark spluttered, "you know what, I don't even want to know."

"You don't" Pikachu confirmed with a sage like nod of his head.

"Still, he's transformed into a Zoroark and needs your help" she told him, thinking back to the look of utter fear she saw in the boys eyes the night before, "I'm sure that when he wakes he'll be lost and confused."

"He's always lost and confused" Pikachu quipped earning a look of scorn from the single mother who wondered how the trainer could ever put up with such incessant commentary.

She briefly pondered if the inability of humans to understand Pokémon speech was less a curse from the heavens and more a blessing.

"Regardless, he needs you to be there with him, and you too Zorua, you can help him get used to his new body." The two perked up at hearing their new assignments, "I'm going to try and stall the boat and his freinds, understood?" They nodded, "Good" and with that Zoroark bounded off leaving to two small Pokémon to go about their task of helping the trainer.

But as they got moving, Pikachu briefly wondered what exactly had happened to his trainer to put him into such a circumstance and how Zoroark had come to find out about it.

But regardless of all that Pikachu had faith in his trainer.

Yes, Ash would need someone by his side, but Pikachu was certain that his trainer would bounce back and revel in his new body and he was sure that by the time he burst into his trainer's room. Ash would be there with a silly grin on his face, overjoyed at the thought of being a Pokémon.

* * *

Ash sat on a log, head held between his paws, wondering what in the world he had done to deserve this.

"When the world gives you apples, don't eat the apples! Make apple juice!"

He was transformed into a Pokémon.

"Don't listen when the world says that it's smarter to make orange juice."

He couldn't say a single word that anyone would understand.

"Tell the world that if it doesn't pipe down you'll force the world to work for you at minimum wage at your apple juice factories!"

What was worse, she seemed to be incapable of stopping.

"and that you'll play the Numa Numa song for twenty-four hours in those factories."

Like some pest sent from the heavens to spite him?

"You got that world!"

She had been going on with her 'motivational speech' for who knows how long now, having not forgotten Ash's stunt in the bedroom.

Wait, that didn't come out right.

"Don't you dare say that there's too much cake! You can never have too much cake!"

And what was worse, what made Ash feel sick down to his core was the feeling of doom. The feeling that it was _definitely_ going to get worse.

"and why in the world did that guy in Saffron suggest that Kanto Ghost types were strong against Psychics? Because they're _not_!"

Knowing that all he could do was hope that his imaginary friend would run out of imaginary air sometime soon.

* * *

_I'm sorry, you deserve better. Forgiiiiive meeee… pleeeease._


	7. B 7

_Some people have asked about the plot. Fair enough. But that's not something that can really be answered by an author's note. Only through the chapters that I write._

_So to my readers: Have some pizza. It's a shorter chapter than usual, but it's a quick update so oh well._

* * *

Two people passed one another in the corridor of the ship. One walked over to one of the bedrooms where he would replace the sheets, whilst the other continued to walk casually, looking around themselves and when he noticed that he was alone in the corridor began to glow with a dim crimson light.

Zoroark rushed out of the place where her illusion had just dissipated and leapt out from the open window. Her claws shone a bright red and she latched on to the hull of the ship.

Thunk! Her claw was launched into the hull of the ship.

Thunk, went the other and she began to make her way upwards like a rock climber, leaving a trail of sharp gouges in the hull as she moved higher and higher.

She paused momentarily, looked down to the town that was now waking up and covered herself in a light illusion that did little more than camouflage her against the white hull.

There was no point in using invisibility. No point in wasting her energy this early on in her mission as there was no telling what obstacles lay at the higher sections of the ship.

Thunk! she moved higher and higher, working herself into a rhythm.

Then stopped.

She heard someone talking and stopped all motion. Knowing that even amongst the rumble of the ocean waves the noise that her claws made gouging the hull of the ship would have given her away.

Soon more voices came forward alongside the sounds of Pokémon.

She briefly heard them talking something about a prisoner, but that was soon lost within the midst of her thoughts as she went over her plan once more.

Her objective, to stop the ship from leaving because she'd rather not leave her home.

Because home was where the heart was and her heart was-

The sounds moved on and she returned to climbing, working at a steady rhythm as she ascended higher and higher until she had finally managed to find herself at the edge of the deck.

The sounds of people and Pokémon moving around returned and Zoroark briefly peeked over to see a cacophony of activity before hiding back down. Berating herself for not concealing her head from glancing eyes.

Regardless she went through the brief image of some sort of metal box as well as the movement of several Pokémon and humans putting things into place.

Unfortunately it didn't appear as if they were going to stop anytime soon and to make matters worse she couldn't make anything above the incessant babble of the group.

She paused. Breathed in… and out.

Patience was a skill that she had long learned to hone and rather than let her eagerness grab a hold of her once more she waited until the clamour above began to slowly die down.

Footsteps began shuffle away and eventually they had all faded into the distance, the last words she heard from the departing humans were about how "the cables should have sufficient charge for the box."

She concealed herself and looked above deck once more. Scanning around and dropping her invisibility illusion once she realised that she was alone.

She moved above deck and rushed towards a wall where she'd be able to spot any arrivals before they spotted her; then when she felt secure she looked over to the monstrosity that now dominated the front deck of the ship.

It was a black box; a particularly large one at that. She was sure that it couldn't have been brought through any of the doors as it stood at twice her height. Around it stood the unmoving statues of four stone Machoke. Their bursting biceps folded in front of their chests like bouncers denying entry into a club.

Zoroark remembered that _one time_ she spent in the human city with deep regret and then looked at the statues with disgust.

_Muscle bound idiots._

The box was a mystery though; she noticed a series of bundled wires extending from it. Suggesting that the monstrosity did something with electricity.

The memories of the club still fresh in her mind, Zoroark concluded that it was probably just another example of human decadence, the wasteful fools.

She recomposed herself and looked up to where she suspected the control room was. Her time in captivity, trying to escape with her kit had taught her that humans liked to put their important places at the top.

She closed her eyes, focused and the familiar red glow of her illusions and allowed them to once again envelop her. The crimson light disappearing as quickly as it came and leaving the image of a male sailor in its wake.

A simple disguise.

It worked flawlessly.

She moved her way through the hallways, passing by any working humans with a brief smile before making her way upwards to what she guessed was the control room.

Zoroark peered through the window on the door and walked in when she found that the room was empty.

She dropped her illusion and looked around the room for any trace of potential trouble.

Felt relief when there wasn't any.

She couldn't waste any time and so Zoroark quickly darted over to the controls in the front, looking briefly at the sight of the sea and town in the window before her.

Yes, this was probably the control room.

She backed away, looking at all the panels and assorted buttons, wondering which one to wreck, and how to wreck it so that no one would suspect that it was her.

She looked over to her side and noticed something peculiar.

A wheel suspended in mid-air.

She walked over to it, spinning it experimentally before wondering what significance the device had. Did the humans worry about driving the ship upside down?

Or perhaps it was a religious artefact.

BANG!

Zoroark leapt behind the wheel, preparing to conceal herself with invisibility before she stared in shock at the creature that had walked through the door.

It was a Machoke.

No, it was _the_ Machoke, the one who was standing beside the black box, still covered in the grey… _whatever it was_ that made him look like stone.

_Creeak_

He forced down a lever next to the door he had just closed. A lock, probably a lock. Zoroark _hated_ locks. Ever since that _Prick_ put her in that dark prison-

Crack! The Machoke did things with his knuckles that made Zoroark's stomach twist in a series of knots.

Her mind ran through the battle scenario. She was at the disadvantage here, a clear disadvantage that would hurt really badly if she didn't-

He began to walk forward and she instinctively moved back, glancing around the room and cursing her foolishness for being spotted in the first place.

She bumped against one of the consoles and noticed the aggressor coming dangerously close.

The small space between them shrinking smaller and smaller. Suffocating her.

She saw the arrogance in his eyes. The sight of someone who knew that they had already won.

_NO!_

Her battle instinct rose like a raging beast. Covering herself in the invisibility illusion so that she could dodge.

But with lightning fast reflexes the Machoke brought his fist to strike the moment she vanished.

Boom! The shockwave threw her away like a rag doll.

It didn't manage a hit but… _that_ was powerful.

She noticed that illusion had been destroyed as she fell to the ground.

She stumbled forward, asking herself _what was that?_ As she bought some distance between herself and him.

She saw a faint glow envelop his fist as he attacked her once more, forcing another desperate dodge.

_His fists are fast._

She looked around and noticed that she was boxed inside the room, negating what little advantage her quicker legs would give her.

Boom!

_Dodge_!

The pattern repeated as she wondered how long this could carry on… An idea! If she could avoid him for long enough.

BOOM

Zoroark found herself thrown into the wall by a powerful strike. Then looked up to see the Machoke enjoying his handy work as she stumbled to get back onto her feet.

He smirked at her, "See these babies" pointing to his muscles "You're their baby now."

_No_

She growled.

The images of her prison, of her torture, the anger at losing her daughter to that mad man, of being _used._

_NO!_

She leapt with bright red claws, slashing left and right like a wild animal, forcing her foe back more and more with her relentless fury.

Boom!

He countered sending her into the wall once again.

She stood up.

No pain, no panic.

Just defiance.

He didn't look much more worse for wear against her strike, but she wouldn't let him win.

_He_ wouldn't take her again.

She roared a bestial cry and leapt above her foe. Her paws glowing in eldritch energy that exploded the moment she landed on him, throwing the two of them in different directions from the sheer force of the strike.

She groaned, getting up once more. Her energy vastly spent from her subpar performance.

She was losing touch.

Then the battle mist vanished and she noticed the _sheer_ amount of damage that had been done to the control room. Most of the electronics were fried, and several consoles punched through by the brute who now tried to get up once more. Not looking particularly brused, but _very_ disorientated.

A sharp screech ripped through her ears and she turned her head to the window instantly. Looking at the fearsome sight of a rea and blue dragon fly across her field of vision towards where the black box was.

A Salamance, that was what it was called.

She looked down and saw that the box was now unguarded, and that it had lost its dark lustre. It fell apart with one slash from the Dragon and she looked on in horror at the sight of what was left inside.

_Him_. The devil that stole her child and force her to-

He looked up at her and smiled before climbing up onto the dragon's back and flying off into the distance.

Zoroark could do nothing more than look on and wonder. That cage was just like the cage _she_ had been put inside, but then if that was so why did it fall apart with only one strike?

She heard the crackle of electricity from all of the broken monitors around her.

And what about all of the Machoke that were guarding him?

Bang! She turned around to see three Machoke pour out of the door that they had just rammed open.

Damn.

She resigned herself to the only course of action she _could_ now take.

She felt the familiar sensation of her invisibility illusion take a hold of her. She looked to the wooden deck in front of her and jumped down, expertly rolling on the floor where the remains of the prison now lay.

She looked back to see the Machoke scanning the control room and prepared her next plan of action.

To get out of this ship and then make sure that her family was safe.

Then take _him_ down and make him _rue_ the day he dared to mess with her.

* * *

Silence pervaded the forest as the two Pokémon faced off against one another. On one end a battle ready Pikachu and on the other a Zoroark whose imaginary friend seemed intent on trying to help.

"_Whatever you do, don't make any sudden movements_." The voice whispered to Ash. "_Just make sure that_-"

"STAND STILL" Pikachu roared. Sparks of electricity flying off of his cheeks.

"_We're _so_ screwed_"

"Now _Mr Purple_, I've been following my best friends scent for ages now, and I _just_ happen to find that his scent leads to you. So you're going to tell me what you saw or I'm gonna blast you to next week. _Got that_?"

Ash opened his mouth before realising that he couldn't talk. Images of the sheer power that Pikachu was capable of producing freezing him in terror. What could he do?

"_Talk_" came the advice from the voice, "_you can't guess at what's gonna happen until you try_"

Ash focused himself for a moment before going through the motions of speech, letting out a loose "Zoroark" as the Pikachu lost its aggressive posture and took on a confused expression.

"What did you say?"

Ash felt a spark of hope ignite within him "Zorrroark"

"What did you say about my mom!"

"_Damnit_"

The sparks returned as the enraged Pokémon roared in wrath, "Meet your End!" and let loose a beam of furious white light that ripped through Ash, seeping into his muscles and pulling his body in all directions as if he was a puppet to be tortured.

He landed, not realising that he was sent flying in the first place, his mind an echo chamber of noise, devoid of all thoughts as he lay prone on the ground. Still twitching from the aftereffects of the electrical shock.

"Ha, I got you good!" A pause.

"Ash?" came the concerned voice "Ash? You okay?"

_Pikachu_?

"Uh oh" Everything faded for a moment before his ears were assaulted by the violent sound of nails scraping against a chalkboard.

"Here, eat this" he felt something, like someone was moving him.

"Now swallow" but the world continued to spin round.

"Heh, I guess I laid it on a little thick there." Ash slowly began to feel a return of his sensations.

"I mean you got to admit, your reaction was pretty funny. I just figured that you'd have a little more resistance then when you were human, didn't figure that you'd get weaker."

Another voice joined that of Pikachu's "You threw a bolt of lightning into his face."

"Zip it Zorua. Besides, he's gotten worse from me and laughed it off like a fart joke. Zoroark probably just can't take a little spark."

"Oi!"

"Hey Ash" Pikachu continued turning his attention to his trainer and Ash found himself looking into the eyes of his friend, "Sorry about all that" Eyes that were so like his own, "forgive me?"

He felt his head nod without a moment's hesitation, the motion still a little jerky and disconnected.

"Thanks buddy" and Pikachu hugging his face. Another odd sensation to add to the growing list.

"Come on, eat some more Oran berries. They've got lots of inner goodness that should help you shake off that little spark I threw you."

"Spark? Looked more like a laser beam to me." Zorua interrupted.

"_Shuush!_" Pikachu hissed.

But seriously, I didn't understand a word of what you were trying to say, you unable to talk or something?"

Ash nodded his head.

"Is it because you're like, physically unable?" Ash shook his head to say no, "ohh, so it's because you're stupid."

No one said anything for a moment.

"It was a _joke_ sheesh."

Zorua interrupted, "your jokes suck" and Ash had to agree.

"I'll have you know that my humour is of the highest-"

Ash groaned as he tried to lift himself off of the ground, the sensation of his body having almost completely returned to him.

He stopped, arms felt stiff. Then carried on until his legs held his weight once more. The vertigo throwing him slightly off balance.

"Whoah" Pikachu gaped, looking at just how large his trainer had grown.

Ash stretched his new muscles, feeling the strength return to them. Much more powerful than his old human limbs.

He looked at the two Pokémon before him and saw the awe in their eyes. Pikachu quickly describing why, "_Oh yeah_, we're soooo gonna teach you an electric attack as soon as possible."

"Zoroark can't learn electric attacks, duh" Zorua interrupted.

"You're joking, right?" Pikachu deadpanned, "Just _look_ at his hair. I've seen Ash do some freaky stuff with hair and electricity." Ash had to agree that his best friend may have had a point.

"You're insane" But then again so did Zorua.

Pikachu grinned at his trainer, "Yup, that's why we're the best team around" and Ash grinned right back, understanding the lack of malice in Pikachu's earlier actions. He wasn't being aggressive, he was just happy that he could be closer to his friend… and he was a little crazy, but it is a little early in the morning.

"Hey Ash?" Pikachu asked, shifting nervously all of a sudden, "You really can understand me can't you?"

"Duh" Zorua sniped. But the two friends just maintained a cool gaze at one another as Ash slowly nodded. Pikachu's ears perked up in glee.

"Really?" Ash nodded again. "Yes! I knew it, I was just testing you, but… this… _this_ is A- mazing!" Pikachu began to jump around, sparks of excitement dancing from his cheeks, "Even last time when the witch transformed you, you couldn't hear me and" Pikachu leaped up and wrapped Ash's much larger waist in a tight hug that the boy quickly returned.

"This is the best thing ever!" Pikachu mumbled whilst still holding Ash tightly. The boy felt his heart swell.

One could never have enough hugs. And for a moment they were more than happy to be lost in the sensation.

Then something that Pikachu said brought up a question in Ash's mind. He loosened his grip and his Pokémon quickly noticed.

"What's wrong?" Pikachu asked.

Ash motioned to his body, "You want an opinion on how you look?" Ash shook his head to say no.

"You want to know about transforming?" Ash nodded.

"Well I don't reeeally know what happened here, but I do remember the last time when you met a witch and… well it's all a little foggy, and I don't remember much." A pause, "But I don't think that that's the problem here… hopefully."

Ash nodded, satisfied with the answer.

He looked up to see smoke in the distance, felt a brief pang of worry then shook it off, probably wasn't anything serious. Then thought about the next order of business.

He looked at Pikachu and pointed to his own throat. "You want to learn to talk?" the Pokémon's eyes glistened. "So I'm gonna be teaching _you_." Maybe this wasn't such a good idea? "_I'm- teaching- _you." The Pokémon's eyes glistened, "this is gonna be soooo much fun!" Definitely not a good idea.

But then again, at least that voice in his head wasn't annoying him anymore. He wondered if this meant that he was cured of insanity.

"_You wish_"

Or not.

* * *

The invisible Zoroark rushed through the city, having caught the trail of her kit and the Pikachu leading away from the town and into the forest.

It was a small consolation as her energy was being constantly sapped away with every second that she tried to stay invisible underneath this blasted sunlight.

Then she heard a group of familiar voices and forced herself from her path and into a shaded alcove.

She waited and the voices became louder. The shade helped to return some of her strength. Then they came into view; she finally got a glance at the speakers.

It was her kit's friends… what were their names?

Bah, who cared? They were just humans anyway.

But then she heard them talking about something. She was sure she had heard the word "Ash" somewhere in there and all of a sudden _plans_ began to spring up in her mind.

They may not be kin she told herself, but they did play their part in keeping her little kit safe from harm's way.

She looked at them with a sharp eye as they began to move away from her line of sight.

They were looking for Ash, and in his current state, whatever _that_ was. He was most likely vulnerable to whatever they had in store for him.

She realised grimly that the future looked dark for her family if they were left unhindered.

She had to intervene on his behalf, and _hopefully_ find a way to enlist their aid once more.

She focused on her last memories of the trainer before she accepted him as kin, listened to her memories for the sound of his voice.

She focused the strength within her and let the illusion unravel itself until the dark creature was no more and only a young trainer stood in her place.

* * *

_Hey Zoroark, why didn't you just _ask_ the humans if you could stay instead of wrecking the ship?_

_**Glares**_

_Oh, well that's a good answer. I'm just saying that you could've avoided a whole load of rubbish if you-_

_**Glares**_

_I think that you did the right thing, no objections from me. Nope._

_Soooo my faithful readers. Tell me what you think. Like it? Love it? ADORE IT!? _

_..._

_..._

_..._

_could you umm... press the review button... please?_

_pretty please?_


	8. B 8

(Updated 9th Sept 09)

Review Replies:

_-Rapist? No, he's just a cocky prick, the world's got hundreds of them._

_-Human form back?_

_Haha_

_HAHA_

_HAHAHAHAHA!_

_ehem... maybe ;)_

_Now for the chappie, bon appetite._

* * *

Pikachu stood before his temporarily former trainer eager to get things underway. Because now the tables had turned, the chars had been rotated and the pancakes well and truly flipped. "Right," the little Pokémon began, looking up undaunted at the larger creature before him "this is your first lesson on how to be a Pokémon. Or as the course is more commonly known, 'How to be Awesome 101'"

"Sounds awesome." The Voice snarked to Ash in a whisper.

"This will be a gruelling challenge" Pikachu continued whilst maintaining the image of upmost professionalism, "your knees will hurt, your arms will break, your eyeballs will leak precious bodily fluids as you _beg_ for my mercy."

"He's loving this."

"And you WILL follow the rules of my classroom! There will be no sneezing, no bathroom breaks and _no_ interrupting. Do I make myself clear Private?" Ash nodded immediately.

The Voice let out a sharp laugh, "you're the trainer, _you_ got to take responsibility for this monster."

Pikachu continued, not seeming to have noticed the Voice that Ash heard. "Good, _Lieutenant_. Make sure that you understand that I am the boss and… hopefully, we'll make a fighter out of you yet." Having forgotten that he was only supposed to teach Ash how to talk.

"Now, I _know_ that you want to learn how to do electric attacks, I know, I know. No species should suffer being devoid of such a glorious gift." Pikachu shook his head in pity, "but you will, one day, if you listen to _me_, be able to control the power of electricity." He smirked "Oh, you won't _neearly_ be as great as me, but no longer will you be a pitiful creature that can't let out a single spark."

Zorua interrupted impatiently, "Say any more about electric attacks and I _swear_ that I'll fart- in- your- face."

"Eh hem" Pikachu coughed, keeping his composure. "As I was say-ing, _this_ course will require your skills of critical thinking, analysis, teamwork-"

"_Thinking?_" The Voice in Ash's head echoed in mock horror. "You're doomed, you know that." But no matter what, nothing seemed to stop Pikachu's little lecture.

"And we will complete our seven week course with several sections about-" something that Ash quickly stopped listening to, as the Voice quickly filled the gap.

"Hey, see if that 'fart in the face' idea will get things back on track" she whispered conspiratorially but before Ash could even blink at her comment Zorua interrupted once more.

"What he's _trying_ to say, Ashy boy is that if you want to speak like a Pokémon you have to imagine what you're trying to say as you speak."

"Oi!" Pikachu interrupted, "Madame Fluffy, I won't have you poisoning my students with lies, I-"

"_MADAME FLUFFY_!" Zorua screeched. "How in the world am I _FLUFFY_?"

"Um, your hair?"

"What's wrong with my hair!"

"Excuse me little angry ones?" Ash said.

"Wait a minute Ash, Madame Fluffy's shouting at me." Pikachu blinked, and the two small Pokémon then turned to the largest of their group with eyes wide open.

The Voice broke the silence for Ash, "Oh… my… _gosh_. You just said your first word. This is, this is-"

"You just said your first word." Pikachu unknowingly echoed.

"_Did he just copy me_?" The Voice asked herself.

"We should have bought a camera" Zorua added.

"_What good would a_-"

"What good would a camera be?" Pikachu asked.

"_Oi_!"she screeched.

"Eh hem?" Ash coughed to interrupt them, wondering why he didn't do this before.

"Yeah?"

"Learnings?" Ash asked impatiently.

"Learnings?" Pikachu echoed, "Oh! You mean your lessons!" Ash nodded his head eagerly, "well it wasn't a part of my schedule to teach you speech until at least week four-"

"Say _what_!" Zorua spluttered.

"But as my plan was interrupted by Madame Fluffy I shall try to adjust things." They both turned to Zorua who just sat with a grin. "But as I- Umpf"

Pikachu fell after being struck by a tackle from the little fox. He groaned getting up, shooting a scowl at the Dark type who returned a sweet grin in response.

He turned to his student "But as I was saying… uhh." He paused and turned back to Zorua, "_how_ did you know to tell him that anyway?"

"Well, to be honest" she replied "it's a little obvious to notice the relatively high levels of tangential emotional input to the afflictions of our species compared to the functional and objective nature of the human tongues when you sit down and think about it." Zorua grinned.

"uhh… yeah. I knew that." Pikachu replied awkwardly.

"I like her, she's got spunk" The Voice confidently commented.

"But why does he talk weird?" Pikachu asked.

"Well" Zorua scratched her chin with a paw "If I had to guess, I'd say his mental matrix is still pre-set to his original range of absolute fixed phrases, and a shift, mentally to the varied and singular nature that is represented by our tongue should take time, despite the astounding feat that he's accomplished by being able to understand and adapt in the first place."

Ash and Pikachu stared at her blankly. "I understood all of that" Pikachu replied, "But I'm not sure that Ash did, could you… repeat that for him"

"ooh" Zorua purred, "I'm not so sure, I mean _you're_ the teacher and I've been interrupting your lessons for an awfully long time."

"Oh" Pikachu laughed, rubbing a paw behind his head, "Don't worry about that I'm sure that you'll-"

"No no, I insist" Zorua interrupted, eyes boring down on Pikachu like a predator after its prey, "I'd just looove to see your stunning explanation."

"I disturb you?" Ash said "I say I already understand."

"Really?" Pikachu blinked, "Can you explain it then… for your sake, not that we don't already know."

"Simples. Body change makes head think different. Talk turns different when head listens to body. Yes?"

"Err" the two Pokémon blinked in astonishment, as Ash grinned in return. There were some advantages to having a disembodied voice in your head.

* * *

Zoroark walked casually towards the group of four humans who stood with their attention on a man she had not seen before. Fortunately however it wasn't long before they noticed her approaching them in her disguise and called out to her, "Ash!"

Zoroark twisted the illusions face into a smile as the four ran up towards her asking her questions about where he had been, and how worried they were when he had disappeared. It took a moment for the information to process itself and when it had, Zoroark noticed that the group was looking at her for answers. "Don't worry guys" she said in a fairly accurate rendition of the boy's voice "I just woke up early and left for a walk." Keeping her explanation as short and believable as possible.

"And Pikachu?" the dark skinned male questioned.

"Yeah he came with me too." Zoroark amended.

"Where is he now?" he continued.

"With Zorua" she replied instantly, knowing that a little truth would do a lot of good in strengthening her façade. His features softened and she took it for granted that her answer had placated him. Though she remembered to keep an eye on the unusually inquisitive human, should he prove to be a problem in the future.

The other man who she had not met yet walked up towards the group and introduced himself to her as "William Jennings a representative of the League." Whith what she assumed what the human version of a friendly greeting. He was dressed in an official-esque outfit with bold colours and sharp lines that looked odd to Zoroark, as if they weren't made for him. But when she considered that human wrappings, especially those of the females baffled her brain, she put her danger sense to rest.

She found herself caught up briefly on the tangent about why humans wore cloth around their bodies. She had speculated that the males clearly used it to insulate their frail selves, yet this didn't seem as evident when she took the females into account. Then again, maybe the females were just more resilient? Regardless there was an oddness to this outsider barging into their group but Zoroark opted to listen to what he had to say.

Finally noticing with some alarm that he had held his hand out for a traditional human greeting all the time that she was lost in thought. She felt relief when he then placed his hand back down to his side when he noticed that the boy before him wouldn't reciprocate. The illusion may not have lasted prolonged contact of that sort.

The man began to speak, "The League originally heard reports of Legendries going rampant and moved here to intervene, but I've heard reports that this was not true, and of your efforts to save their power from being abused by a criminal?" The man looked at the group with a gaze of respect.

"Given this new knowledge. The League would personally like to thank _all_ of you for your service to this town and all its inhabitants. But I'm afraid I've been notified of some… developments in this case that you may find unsettling." Zoroark fought to keep the curiously attentive expression plastered on her illusion from snorting in disgust, wishing that the fool would get to the point rather than letting loose some half-baked platitudes he thought up moments ago.

"That explosion you heard moments ago was the criminal, _Kodai_ that you had worked so hard to capture, escaping his prison cell." The group gasped in surprise.

"Is there anything we can do?" one of the females asked, to which the man shook his head.

"No, the footage from the ship has seen him flying off into the distance and we already have designated trackers in place." He sighed, "the problem is that there is something more serious going on, we've heard that he has an assistant who has been watching you and your friends."

They felt horror at the thought that they may be personally targeted by this mad man and his minions.

Zoroark worried for Ash.

"And there's one more thing" the man admitted, looking up.

He inhaled.

Then punched Zoroark in the face.

She stumbled back in shock, battle instincts roaring to life. Instantly noticing that her illusion had been destroyed, noticing the bracelet on the man's arm, the horrified reactions of the other humans. Realised that she was outnumbered.

Then ran.

She was already far in the distance when the humans had finally found the strength to speak, the young girl starting with an exclamation of "What was that!"

"I'm afraid" the man continued without faltering, looking briefly to the rooftops to see if his Pokémon were trailing the imposter. "That the Zoroark you thought was your ally was working with the criminal Kodai and had helped him to escape."

"No way!"

"I'm afraid so, we have video footage from the ship that had been used to transport him showing her fighting off the security Machoke and destroying the control room."

The group tried to find holes in the officials' accusation, but with the proof he had behind of him and the event that had just transpired, they couldn't deny the facts that they were given. Nor could they _do_ anything in this situation, not when the League specifically had this situation in hand. All they could do was worry and wait.

* * *

Zoroark leapt into the clearing to the surprise of the three that were already there. Her surprising entrance shocking them into a battle stance that they relaxed once they recognised her as an ally.

She asked herself where they should go now but heard a buzzing sound pass by her hearing.

Her battle instincts roared to life, then the ambush was sprung. Various warrior Pokémon leapt out of the bushes and trees, ready to fight.

_Thud._

She looked forward to see Ash Zorua and Pikachu collapse from three strikes to the head. She was alone and outnumbered in this fight now.

She readied herself to fight for her children, and her family.

Her foes readied their ranged attacks, and the world was filled with the sounds of explosions.

* * *

Ash felt the shadows of unconsciousness leave him as he lay in limbo, exhausted beyond words from whatever had occurred to put him in such a sorry state. He let out a light whimper of pain from his stiff muscles, barely noticeable amidst his heavy breathing. Opened his eyes slightly and withheld a groan at the sight of dark grey prison bars that stood before him.

His memories of the lightning fast battle that put him here reawoke and he wondered just how many times he was going to see the inside of a cage in his lifetime.

Too many.

Then he heard the sounds of advancing footsteps come towards him. The familiar clip-clop rhythm of rubber smacking against the stone floor, growing ever closer and closer to his position.

The sounds stopped from a position that Ash guessed was nearby and he felt that it was best to try and lay prone, to let the bad guy turn around and leave so that he could try to find an escape route.

"I know you're awake." The man's razor sharp voice sung, making Ash's heart leap inside of its chest, "after all we both know just how tough you are."

Ash realised that it was time to give up his rouse but was quickly stopped from moving by the sound of someone else.

He squinted his eyes open and noticed that the… oddly dressed man wasn't even looking at him, then glanced at what his captor had directed his gaze at and felt his heart jump at the sight of terror that stood before him.

The entire corner of the cage was shrouded in an unnatural shadow, moving, pulsing, breathing in and out as if it was alive. Then came movement , a small but noticeable shift in the air around the entity, a new sharpness and from those dark depths opened a pair of ice blue eyes staring wrathfully down at their adversary on the other side of the cage.

A growl rumbled through the stone walls of the room and the shadows began to take physical form. A towering black and red beast bathed in primal power, stepping forward to resist the man. A distant part of Ash's mind recognised Zoroark as a friend but that was silenced by the sheer sense of dread that emanated from her imposing figure.

"See" the man remarked lightly, "Was it so hard to show your face to me?"

Zoroark growled once more, her face twisting into an image of childhood horrors. _Insulted_ by the very sound of his voice. She spat at him in her native tongue "_Bite me_."

"And she speaks as well!" the man exclaimed with glee, then frowned. "Although I am a little disappointed, why do you hesitate in using the civilised tongue?"

Zoroark grabbed the bars with her claws and told the man in her own language that "you wouldn't know _civilised_ if it smacked you in the face."

The man feigned hurt, "Oh you wound me"

"And your breath smells like fart."

"Though I must admit that if anyone was going to find out the truth, it would be you" The man grinned, forcing another growl from Zoroark. "Alas, in the spirit of comradeship between two 'hide and seekers' I thought it prudent to allow you one last chance to join me." Zoroark let loose a glob of spit which the man deftly dodged.

"You see" he continued unfazed, "my mission is a righteous one. You know this, after all you too must have seem the many atrocities made by those who misuse the power of magnificent creatures such as yourself."

Zoroark looked bored as if she had long since rejected anything that he could offer.

"and without my prior funding there would be a collapse in the organisational strength of those who oppose them." His arms and volume began to rise as he continued to preach.

"The Leagues can not stem this tide on their own. How else are we to stop the great nomad dynasties that oppose us and threaten to send us into calamity at every turn, the trainers can only do so much."

He sighed, lowering his frantic speaking pace, "yet it takes time to build up an Empire such as mine. I do not harm the Guardian of the Forest in my search for youth and I do not see the harm in letting a narrow minded town such as this suffer for their pride."

He grinned at the raging shadow before him, "So will you join-"

Zoroark spat into his eye. Forcing him to reel back and frantically rub away the glob of saliva.

"Well" Ash saw him grin, "the Gods can not say that I didn't try."

The man pulled out a metal rod from his side and pressed a button on it. "I have witnessed your attachment to your family. It is a beautiful thing; I too share this affection to _my_ family. The two of us are not so different really and perhaps, had you joined me, our alliance would have been a glorious one." He began to walk to Ash.

"But you said _no_, so let me leave you with a parting gift." And he pushed the rod through the bars of Ash's cell, a crackling sound the boy's only warning as he was shocked by a powerful surge of electricity that blackened his vision into a sea of nothingness.

His hearing became muffled until a familiar voice called over to him, "Get yourself together!"

He recognised the Voice that had tormented him, although in hindsight 'torment' was perhaps a little harsh.

"_Come on_, Pikachu's Face-Laser hurt more than this!" and she was right, she was completely right.

He felt the burning effect of the shock wear off as his hearing to the outside world returned. The relentless sound of claws striking against metal over and over again, making it sound as if a hundred drums were beating in the distance.

"Until we meet again my fair maiden." The man's smug voice called out from above the din "I shall continue on my noble quest to preserve the world."

"Jump off a cliff!" he heard his imaginary companion shout as the door closed with a thud.

Zoroark's efforts to breach the bars stopped. "Ash" she whispered worriedly before rushing over to the boy and holding him in her arms.

He groaned as he opened his eyes, seeing the unexpected expression of worry on the Pokémon's face as she held his head close to her.

"Are you all right?" she asked.

Ash nodded groggily, getting up into a sitting position "Had worse" his broken speech now coming out of his mouth without a second thought on having to speak a different language.

"Worse?" Zoroark blinked before looking at him with renewed worry, "Are you sure you're alright?"

"Yes" Ash nodded in confirmation, puzzled by this new series of emotions from the previously distant Pokémon.

"_Ash_?" his companion whispered in his head to which he responded with a small nod in hopes that it would not look strange to his cellmate who seemed to be examining his body for any lasting injuries, "how did she know that you were you?

He blinked, remembering that it wasn't too much of a stretch for Pikachu to have recognised his best friend, but _Zoroark_. They barely knew each other.

Unfortunately, it seemed as if the Pokémon had noticed the worry form on Ash's face as she asked, "What's wrong?"

"How you know I am me?" Ash asked, unable to contain his query for a later time.

"I am me?" Zoroark echoed, puzzled slightly at the broken syntax in the question that Ash had just asked her.

"How _this_ is me" Ash clarified.

A sense of realisation seemed to dawn upon her and all of a sudden Zoroark began to look uncomfortable. She took a moment, composed herself then looked down at him with a comforting smile. "It is easy to tell our kin apart from one another. Especially as we are part of the same family."

"Family?" Ash echoed.

"Yes, you see, our kind are few in number, and when we meet one another, not hidden behind the Veil of Shadow the meeting is usually ended with blood. But when there is peace between two of our kin we become bonded, family. You, me and Zorua are family, do you see?"Zoroark explained.

Ash looked on with glazed eyes as he tried to process this information. The mechanics of it all feeling very alien to him and at odds with his already existing family.

But then again he reminded himself of his relationship with his Pokémon, and wondered if _they_ weren't family in a similar sense.

He looked at Zoroark with childish curiosity, "Pikachu family too?"

He received a non-committed "hmm" as the dark type turned around to the back of the cage where the bars dug into the stone wall.

"I'm guessing that you heard my little conversation with the prick" she asked turning around to see Ash nod his head, "I thought so" she grinned.

"You see, he'll have made the cage out of something that we can't break. The _walls_ however are a different story" and with that she charged her claws with an ethereal energy before striking at the masonry. Several small chunks of rock launching away from the force of the impact.

"Now, I think it's about time that I taught you how to use that body of yours."

Ash perked to attention as she began, "From the way you speak I take it that you only learned recently?" Ash nodded.

"Zorua taught"

"Hmm" she said lost in thought for a brief moment. "She had similar problems when she first learned…" she snapped to attention, "Regardless, is it safe to assume that you know nothing else?" Ash nodded his head. "Very well."

"The first lesson is maintenance and augmentation. You're young and weak so these things are especially important for you." She held out her claws as Ash held down his protests at being called young and weak.

"The 'shadows knives' technique, or 'sharpen claws' as your former kind call it." She said as her large dagger like claws were bathed in sheen of crimson energy, letting out a sharp sound of steel striking against steel before it dissipated, leaving the Pokémon's claws looking longer, sharper and all the more dangerous.

"The dark energy flows from you and heals you." She explained, "Let it come from your core and assist you."

Ash stood frozen for a moment before he realised that she wished for him to try the technique out for himself. He closed his eyes and tried to send a burst of dark energy to his claws as she did, but opened his eyes to see that nothing had changed.

"Your first mistake" Zoroark explained without missing a beat "Was closing your eyes. Don't do that, it's a bad habit that many fall into alongside the habit of calling out the names of their attacks before they launch them. So make sure you don't do that either." She paused for a moment, "although I'm surprised that your instincts haven't taught you this technique already."

Ash remembered hearing something about instincts before... Something about forgetting his human ones? He wondered who it was that said that.

Was it like when he was learning how to talk? Like trying to call upon his emotions to help add added meaning to his actions?

He decided to try again. Paused briefly to stop the temptation to close his eyes and searched for the primal power inside of him. Deeper and deeper until all thought had died down and nothing was left but instinct.

_Instinct_. It washed over him like a wave of warm water, wrapping him up in its care, holding him tight like a new born baby. Ash felt it surround him, his heart singing praises of joy, the dark prison cell no longer dark but inviting, a warm blanket that would keep him safe.

He felt as if he could get lost in this sensation forever, but a fading voice called for him to wake up and the sound of steel striking against steel brought him back to the waking world that he had begun to drift out of.

He looked at his claws now lengthened and sharpened, a series of vicious red knives. Then looked up to the beaming face of Zoroark as she said "good, you learn quick but then again you _were_ a human. Now, one more lesson and then we're breaking out of here."

* * *

He strode forward, the mask on his face hiding his identity perfectly well even now.

Zoroark had spotted him, but then again if it was going to be anyone, it was going to be her. After all, who best to detect an imposter than another imposter? The universe had a sense of poetry about it, that much was for sure.

It wasn't much of a setback to his plans. Those others who had interrupted him the first time had been taken out of the loop by his ambush. Those interfering children placated by the words of an 'official' and given the two minor Pokémon to deal with.

The major comfort of it all was that he hadn't been set too far back in his plans. After all important moments like this demanded the existence of contingencies.

Because he wouldn't be the Champion of this noble endeavour to protect the world from the shadows if he wasn't prepared for when things didn't go his way.

The appearance of the other Zoroark was a little surprising, as was the knowledge that the two dark types could speak the human tongue with perfect clarity, without having to use the crutch of telepathy.

If they could have been recruited to his noble cause it would have been _magnificent_… but alas. Perhaps the purple haired Zoroark would make a fitting addition to his organisation, and maybe when one joined, the rest of the family would soon follow.

Regardless, he had a mission to complete. The Guardian of the Forest _Celebi_ was notorious for two things, the ability to breathe life into plants, and the ability to travel through time. What people didn't know was that Celebi used one to do the other, specifically the raw energy of the time stream to encourage growth rates in nature.

It was _that_ converted energy that he wanted, energy to return him to youth. To allow him to continue to build his Empire.

A small town was worthless in comparison to the safety of his life's work.

The children and beasts had stopped him previously. But they were occupied now and clueless about how, even now the time vortex continued to exist. Spilling residual energy into the surrounding area.

It would take little time for him to reverse the internal flow and reopen the vortex as having two lifetimes worth of experience and wealth behind him had placed many resources into his hands.

And patience, if one was to deal with the raw force of time one would need patience.

Patience was one thing he _definitely_ had.

Success was all but assured.

* * *

Ash should have guessed that it would only be a matter of time before she returned.

"Ooh I would dig five hun-dred miles and I would dig five hun-dred more."

But fortunately he had the ability to ignore her singing by concentrating on work. He and Zoroark had taken shifts in digging out the masonry with one repeatedly striking the wall with the 'shadow claw' technique whilst the other rested whilst using 'sharpen claws' to restore their chipped and bruised claws to strength. It was gruelling work made all the more disheartening when Ash noticed that his attempts only made a fraction of progress in comparison to his counterpart's efforts.

"Just to be the girl who dug a thou-sand miles to live un-der your floor."

But what was strangest of all was that as long as he ignored the lyrics in the Voice's songs, they actually helped to get him into a decent rhythm.

He swapped positions with Zoroark as she walked into position and began to hammer the wall with a relentless ferocity that Ash could only hope to match, drowning out the singing and replacing it with a noise that reminded Ash of a jackhammer.

He looked at her arms, blazing with black and crimson energy. The 'Shadow claw' technique powering her up with an otherworldly strength that he could never imagine wielding, not outside of the superheroes that he saw on T.V. and even then. A technique that she had taught him by using her existing lesson as a base, the 'Sharpen claws' technique but altered to be more ferocious, more primal in its execution.

He slowly began to realise just how powerful Pokémon were and it terrified him slightly to think that he now had this power in the palm of his hands.

She stopped her attacks and walked away from the corner to reveal a nice gap in between the space where the bars stopped and the wall began. More than enough to let a human through, but a tight squeeze for his new larger frame.

Then again, time was of the essence and the two had to squeeze themselves through the small gap that they had made, breathing a sigh of relief when they finally made their way through to the other side.

They quickly moved to the door, Ash opening it and jumping outside. Then sopped as he felt the sensation of fire wrap around him, blinding him, he wanted to get out!

Then it vanished and he discovered that Zoroark had dragged him back inside.

"What, what" Ash panted.

"It's the sunlight." She explained. "You've probably become oversensitive to it because of the time that you spent sheltered in here." He took another look at the now open door and felt the sight of the midday sun reignite a ripping, burning sensation inside of him. "Now now, it's nothing to be afraid of, we all find ourselves scorched from time to time; it happens to all young Zoroark and Zorua."

_But I'm a human_! Ash wanted to scream.

"Try again. Move forward slowly and it will be fine" Zoroark soothed, holding out a paw that Ash tentatively took to help him return into the painful outside world.

His eyes slowly adjusted to the glaring light and with every step he took closer to the light he felt himself become weaker and weaker.

Then it was all dwarfed by the moment he stepped outside and into the path of the suns golden light. It cut through him like a knife, ripping him apart, boiling him alive. Taking him away from this world as if he was some demon to be vanquished.

He distantly felt someone grab him and move him, but none of that overcame the overwhelming fury of the sun.

Eventually his struggles died down. The sensation of burning had slowly dissipating until it became bearable. But the light still felt oppressive, brutal. As if it was strangling him. What kind of creature had he turned into?

He noticed that Zoroark was holding him tightly in a bear hug and felt her loosen her grip when she noticed that he had returned to the land of the sane. But it still hurt, burned all over, twisted his mind like he was dizzy and made him feel weak on his feet, ready to topple to the ground.

"Are you alright?" Zoroark asked finally, her voice faintly registering with him. Ash shook his head.

"Oh, I'm… can you stand for much longer?" Ash shook his head again. "Does it hurt that much?" he nodded.

"Alright then" she continued as she grabbed his paw and began to guide him back inside where he felt immediately revitalised like he had been put under a cold shower. "Wait here" she needlessly ordered, "I'll be right back." And promptly ran off, covering herself in the crimson aura of a forming illusion.

Ash took this time to rest and listen to the sounds from outside. Feel the soothing balm of the shadows grant him comfort and clarity as he listened to the sounds of the birds, of wind blowing through the trees and… cars?

He looked outside and into the blinding light. Waiting for a moment for his eyes to adjust so that he could see the sight of nature directly outside along with a small dirt path leading away from the door. The sounds of cars made certain that they couldn't be in the forest, that much was certain. There was almost no regular traffic so close to the outside of the city. And inter town road traffic was often sparse or used other methods.

But then- "Must be a park" The Voice suddenly answered for him, making him wonder once again if she was reading his thoughts. But a park seemed like a strange place to put a… bunker? Whatever this place was.

_Did it matter?_ He wondered, the doubts of the little boy crying inside of him._ You're all alone and there's no one here. You're dead, no one's going to look for you and no one will care that you're gone. You're a Pokémon now and you'll never fulfil your dream!_

"Hey!" the Voice called out to him, "Get up, now's not the time to space out!" and he knew that she was right.

There was a bad guy out there that needed to be taken down. Another crazy person who wanted to use the world for his own gain. _That_ took precedence over his worries. Over his worries for others. They could be worried about him as long as they were safe.

And for them to be safe, the bad guy had to be brought to justice. As always. There was no room for doubt.

He heard some noise in the distance and instinctually moved into a hiding space.

He saw a red haired lady coming down the path with a cart in her hands before she came to a stop before the doorway.

She was bathed in a crimson light that reviled her to be Zoroark and told Ash, "_Quickly_, get into the cart." Which Ash did without a second thought. She then proceeded to cover his body with a thick cloth so as to hide and shield him from the sunlight that he had briefly exposed himself to.

He then felt the energy of Zoroark's illusion as it reasserted itself and with that the Pokémon in disguise picked up the cart and began to make her way towards her prey, and her vengeance.

* * *

_Well Ash finally knows an attack… took long enough. I still feel bad about this… I honestly didn't think that this would stretch out for so long. Seriously! This was supposed to be two chapters, maybe three. But then I asked why do they do this? Why is that happening? Should I add some more explosions? Does Ash need to go into prison again? And I eventually created this multi-chapter monster. _

_As always I'd love to hear your reviews. Feel free to tell me your thoughts, suggestions, ect and if you reeeeeally love me send some money. Nudge nudge, wink wink, wiggle wiggle. :P_

_Next chapter's not going to be a quick update. It's my first epic scale battle sequence in this story and I don't wanna screw it up. (But reviews may help speed things up)_


	9. B 9

_Guess who's back. It's a fairly large chapter and hopefully an enjoyable one. _

* * *

He's dragging me back; I can feel it, yet know that there is nothing that I can do. That is the greater pain, the feeling of _sheer_ helplessness. As though I travel through time I am not above its iron will.

No one is.

No one.

When I get to the other side I hope that the boy will be there. He was nice.

He smiled at me when everyone else saw a prize, made me remember what it was like to have someone enjoy your company, what it was like to have someone be your friend.

He helped me to remember to go and see Mew. I hadn't visited her in a long time, and for my next visit I chose not to cheat with some time travel to cover up my neglect of our friendship so that she too could realise how long it had been.

No one is above time. Some fall in love with it.

But now I am being dragged back. I know what he will do and will try to resist with all my might. But I am small and weak, and on my own, I will fail.

I am _doomed_ to fail.

I hope that some one's there on the other side to help me.

Because he _scares_ me. That dark man with his dark soul.

The hollow man who has everything from the affection of women, to the respect of men and the obedience of his Pokémon. Yet will never be happy.

He knows time in a way that few do. He does not know it well enough to avoid the damage he's causing, but well enough to be able to use it to his own advantage. Well enough to drag me back to him. Well enough to use me to release the power of eternity into him so that he may return to youth to the suffering of all those around him.

Please, I feel the grip on me growing stronger.

Please someone help me. I'm scared. I'm lonely.

Mew? Are you there?

Ash? I remember your name; I remember that you were that one boy smiled at me.

_anyone_?

Please… help me.

I don't want to be alone.

* * *

Ash groaned as another bump in the road sent a jagged shock through his jaw, as he tried his hardest not to move in a way that would suggest that there was a living thing under the blanket. Because even the slightest hint of something unusual could send their plans to heck.

The main reason for his enforced secrecy was due to the long line of people who wanted to help the 'young lady' in carrying her heavy burden. People who Zoroark either chose to placate by telling that the cart was full of pillows or something. Ash just found it all annoying, wanting to get out of his frustrating position sooner rather than later.

But for that he had to wait until they could get to somewhere secure and shaded like the forest so that the sun wouldn't fry his body to a crisp.

Then there was the city that they were travelling through. He could hear it, _smell_ it in ways he hadn't felt before. It was like a kaleidoscope of sounds and smells had just been invented for the soul purpose of throwing his newly heightened hearing in every direction. The sounds were louder, sharper and filled with the shades of things he hadn't ever comprehended hearing before and the smells, a platter of scents that lay before him: rubber, sweat, fruits, and car exhaust all mixing together to form a rancid yet tempting odour that was only dwarfed by the occasional wafting aroma of perfume.

Gods, _perfume_. He already hated the stuff as a human, now however it just overwhelmed his senses in a way that made him want to throw up.

But even with all of this Ash kept in mind that he had a mission to complete. That _man_, whoever he was had captured him and Zoroark had shown himself to have no good intentions. That much was clear.

Yet at the same time Ash couldn't wait to get back to Pikachu, wherever Pikachu was, and Zorua. He couldn't forget her after she was so kind in teaching him how to speak… and the rest of his friends, they were all a sort of family to him as well, in the same way that Zoroark had bought him into her family.

But there was no way that he could shy away from the fact that he couldn't really convince them to join him without them at least trying to capture him. Ash rationalised that it was what he would have done if the situations were reversed. Pikachu had helped him realise that his friends would always stand by his side.

And the thing was that he wouldn't have begrudged them for that, it was just that by the point that he could tell them the truth the man would have... done something? What did he want to do that was so bad anyway?

But the wheels underneath him kept turning, a steady rhythm that continually brought Ash closer to his goal without pause for his internal queries.

"Excuse me" But then again the stream of guys wanting to help Zoroark was also something of a constant. "Do you need any help Mam? There's been a heightening of security with the recent news feed and we've been asked to escort civilians into their homes as quickly as possible."

"Oh, there's some danger?" Zoroark asked like an unassumingly.

"Yes" the person continued, having perked Ash's interest, "News feeds have released footage that suggests that the Zoroark that Kodai had 'supposedly' framed was actually working together with him. They've shown clips of her distracting the Machoke gaurds to help him get away all over the news." He finished.

The man's words took a moment to process, but when they did Ash's blood ran cold at the conclusion that his thoughts led him to.

_Betrayal_.

Zoroark had betrayed him. She was working for Kodai, even after all the things that the man did to Celebi, to the town and every single living creature around it. And Zorua, didn't she even _care_ about her daughter? _Gods_, what kind of a heartless-

There was a thudding sound as something large and fairly heavy was dumped into the cart slightly above Ash.

"It's not true" Zoroark urgently whispered to him as his heart jumped at the soft and warm sensation of the object that was now on top of him. "You got to believe me. I was on the ship, and Machoke began to chase me. Then when that was happening, _he_ got out. I don't know how but _I _didn't want it to happen."

There was a momentary pause, "Ash… please, believe me" but her words didn't faze the boy who had just realised that the object above him was the body of the man she was just talking to!

She waited for a response then noticed the prone form of the officer above Ash and covered him up as well, "don't worry about him, he's just asleep. We'll put him down when we find somewhere safer than here."

"Ash?" she asked panicking that she had just lost his trust. "Please, say something?

Silence prevailed, "_anything_?"

"Shush" he replied.

"I mean it" she begged "Ash I didn't do any-"

"Shush" he hissed, "just… _listen_."

Feeling a little unnerved by his answer she complied. Hearing nothing but the distant bustle of town life, as they were currently in a relatively quiet backstreet.

"PikaPi!" _oh no_.

"What's wrong with Pikachu?" they heard a person shout in the distance.

"It's Ash" a young girl replied, "poor guy probably misses him. Trouble is that he has to stay in the cage or he'll just hurt himself like that League guy said."

"Pika_Pi_!" the distressed Pokémon called out again.

"Can't we just recall him back into his Pokéball?" a man suggested.

Ash wanted to get out but his world instantly shifted into a rumbling of rapid movement as the cart was dragged away from Pikachu if the quietening calls of his best friend were anything to go by.

Ash struggled with the sheets that covered him, trying his hardest to get out of his temporary prison to free Pikachu, but was forced to end his attempts when a heavy weight was thrown over his body that held him in place. Ash quickly sensed that the cart had stopped moving and realised that the weight on top of him was Zoroark pinning him down.

"Listen" she whispered with a hiss, "I'm sorry but we can't go back for Pikachu" Ash tried to struggle, "_look_, please just listen." She continued, clamping Ash's mouth shut when he tried to scream.

"_Listen_!" she screeched, forcing Ash into a shocked silence, "Your friends _won't_ trust us. If they heard the news they'll think I'm helping Kodai. They'll try to stop us and we can't use even more enemies when we already have to deal with one evil psychopath… _remember_ him? The guy that kidnapped and caged you? He was Kodai wearing a disguise to try and fool everyone! Do You Remember?"

She loosened her grip on him when she noticed that he wasn't struggling. "But Pikachu?" he wailed in anguish.

"I know."

"A cage!" he felt despair rise up inside of him once more. Raging at him to _go_ and help his friend, to go and free him from his prison.

"_I know_." She seethed, "_My_ Zorua was there as well in case you didn't notice! She _saw_ me, she _looked at me in the eyes_ and she _saw_ me run away. How do you think _I_ feel?" She took a moment to try and calm down.

"how do you think I feel?"

A moment of silence passed between the two as a faint, hope filled idea came to Ash, "why can't you disguise?"

"They'll know" Zoroark cut him off before he could finish his line of thought, "they know that I can imitate people and they will not trust me." Ash whimpered, feeling the tides of despair wash over him. "Please, _please_ Ash, please, I need you to trust me, I can't survive if you don't trust me."

"_Please_ let's get this scum first so that my name's cleared. You can't show your face to your friends right now, you can't even speak their language. Please, I'm sorry for dragging you into this, _all_ of this. I'm so sorry that it breaks my heart to think that I may have hurt you. But please, I need you to trust me, even for just this day. You can go back to hating me tomorrow. But for today, I need you next to me..."

"Because if I don't have your trust" She whispered, "I don't have anything."

Ash couldn't help but feel his heart break at the sound of Zoroark's plea. The despair in her voice.

He couldn't ever remember seeing her like that. She was always strong, _always_. She was ready to fight, _ready_ to protect her family. Never ever lowering herself for _anyone_ apart from Zorua, for her family.

But now _he_ was a part of her family. She had said those exact things to him earlier and what he was feeling to Pikachu, maybe she was feeling to him?

"okay" he answered meekly. Putting all of his faith into her with that one word.

"Thank you" she replied bringing with her a little spark of warmth to Ash's cold, guilt burdened heart.

He heard the sound of movement and felt the weight of the person lift off of the cart, the sound of him being put down somewhere and then felt the sensation of the cart moving once more.

He was still sad. Sad beyond words. He could still hear Pikachu's cries echo through his now empty heart, and no matter how hard he could try to deny it he couldn't run away from the truth.

He had just betrayed his best friend. Left him alone to rot as he ran away, safe and hidden from sight.

Ash looked at himself and felt disgusted.

Alone in the world with no one to blame but himself.

But before he could continue down that train of thought his mental companion spoke up, "Ash, I'm sorry… but some of the things she said… they just seem" she sounded grave, "Ash, I think, from what I've noticed… I think that Zoroark is the reason why you transformed."

Time froze.

Ash made no motion, no movement. He just waited as the cart was pulled ever forward. Waited as she took him to where they would face off against Kodai.

Once again he was alone in the world, with no one to blame.

Alone with no one to blame but _her_.

* * *

The sun was beginning to set and with its descent it bought a warm orange tint to the forests that surrounded Ash and Zoroark. He had watched as she sniffed out the man's scent after having found it, moving around like a tracking hound. Going forward, stopping, checking her surroundings for possible ambushes, checking Ash to see if he was still following, then forward again. It was like she was a machine. Moving ahead like clockwork.

Ash didn't know what to think about her, but in the mix of emotions a sense of loathing permeated through him. If only because he couldn't bring it within himself to hate her, either from his love of all Pokémon or his appreciation of her taking care of him.

Though even after taking that into consideration, loathing was a good word to use to express his bitter feelings towards her.

Pikachu was in a cage somewhere and so was Zorua and now, because of what she did, so was he. A cage of flesh and shadow that ripped him away from his life. Trapping him in this new one where he was doomed to forever hide in the shadows.

_Family_?

Ha!

She _forced_ him into this.

Threw him like he was some toy to be played around with.

Yet even with all of this staring Ash in the face he knew that he had no option but to follow her, he had to. She was the only one who would stop Kodai, and as wrong as she was in all the things that she did, letting _that_ man carry on was even worse (probably).

Ash realised that if he was going to stop the criminal he was going to need her help, even if he didn't want to help her.

"Ash come on, we have to keep moving" the Voice said softly when she noticed Ash failing to move with Zoroark having been caught up in his own thoughts. His attention returned to the real world and he took chase to catch up with her, all the while taking special care to remain as quiet as Zoroark was being in case someone unsavoury could spot them.

He realised for a brief moment that he was moving just like her and quickly pushed back the unsavoury comparison into the recesses of his mind. Choosing instead to try and think of something else.

His thoughts were quickly drawn to the Voice in his head that had just spoken up. She occasionally popped up with advice that was somewhat helpful, when it wasn't too distracting.

She seemed to be friendly and Ash wouldn't deny that it was nice. Nice to know that someone had his back, regardless of how annoying they were. Especially after… Pikachu.

Zoroark held up her paw in a manner that seemed to say 'stop' and lowered her body even more to make it appear as if she was half of her actual size. Ash moved over and tried to mimic her actions with limited success and gazed forward through the gaps in the bushes before them.

A machine stood in a clearing. It's large and thick, grey metal hull dominating the space. It was connected to several other devices. The most notable of which was something that looked like a series of mechanical claws which jutted out into the air. Inside of which hovered a faint green light that seemed to be suspended in mid-air.

It took a moment but Ash quickly recognised the sight of the time ripple that Kodai had attempted to use earlier.

A series of footsteps echoed through the clearing as Kodai, now unmasked emerged from behind the machine and into view.

The sun had lowered even further and the machine was bathed in a blood red light.

He heard Zoroark's breathing stiffen as she locked her foe into her sights. Her eyes turning into the eyes of a predator.

She waited until he drew closer… and closer.

Then she burst forth with wild abandon tearing the ground out from underneath her as she rushed towards her target.

But as she rushed across the open ground she was smashed into by a bright red blur that sent her flying away from the kidnapper. She growled, rolled and corrected her form into something battle ready. Immediately assessing the field and spotting where the bright red form of the insectoid Scizor that stood vigil between her and her target.

Ash wasn't there, she briefly looked to the bushes to see if he too was ambushed and noticed that he wasn't.

_What was he doing_?

He stumbled out of his cover as if thrown, followed by a red blur that stopped besides the Scizor, revealing itself to be another member of the same species.

She noticed that Kodai wasn't even paying attention to the battle, instead engrossed with his metal machine. She growled, prompting the red insects to raise their crab like claws in a display of dominance. Snapping them like a pair of castanets.

She hated castanets. She hated bugs and this pair was promptly added to the list of things she wanted to throw into the sun.

She paced forward, memories of traditional open field battles returning to her from her days as a youth. The two Scizor moved forward as one, mimicking one another's others actions in a bizarre dance that succeeded in fuelling the growing irritation in the dark type's belly.

Bug types, always acting like some mindless swarm. Unfortunately she couldn't defeat them decisively in this manner, so she would have to-

Ash rushed forward like a mad man, a shadow claw forming in one arm, but before it could land a hit he tripped and crashed into the Scizor instead. Sending it to the ground.

The fallen Scizor's partner immediately retaliated by smashing a glowing pincer into the boy's head that threw him off to the side as if he was nothing.

Zoroark responded in turn and she struck the Scizor with a Shadow claw to the chest that sent him flying back. But the bug on the floor saw his opportunity and clamped onto her legs with his pincer.

She froze in shock, almost tripping over, but the Pokémon's intentions for Zoroark turned as it let go , lifted itself up and smashed it's glowing claw into her chest, sending her flying into Ash's prone form.

Her head rushed with the sound of blood as she struggled to remember the technique that the Scizor had just used. Mega crab? Hammer claw? _Bah_! Who cares?

Zoroark got up shakily, frustrated at being on the losing side of a battle. Looked up at her reformed opponents on the other side of the clearing. Working together in perfect harmony, battle ready.

Ash on the other hand was not ready as he got up from the floor, still feeling the effects of the powerful strike. His mind drawn away from the guilt of leaving Pikachu behind to suffer by the battle and the sheer amount pain that it threw at him.

He had no business here. He had just learned how to attack and had been a Pokémon for a day. At his best he was little more than a lead weight to Zoroark, his memories of battling telling him this. A fact that Zoroark probably didn't know, being a Pokémon.

But he wasn't _supposed_ to be a Pokémon, he was a trainer! He was the one who made plans and thought up strategies. Not the one who went out onto the field!

Ash glanced briefly at the Scizor and their unshakable presence, at Zoroark who looked as deep in worry as he felt, at Kodai who wasn't even bothering to take notice of the battle.

Like he didn't even need to act like a trainer… or maybe didn't know?

But Ash was a trainer…

He grinned. Days of sweat and toil and hundreds of battles and impossible tactics rushing back to him. Hopeless situations that he overturned with little more than his iron will. He thought of Pikachu, Pikachu wouldn't want him to give up, _no_. He could never redeem himself in his best friend's eyes if he did something as crazy as _giving up_.

He moved forward, seeing the Scizor stiffen at his aggressive action. Good.

"Zor" Zoroark let out an unintelligible sound of worry at his advance, but did nothing to stop him.

He continued forward and as he advanced he noticed that whilst they kept their eyes on him they didn't move. He began to circle them when he moved to just beyond the edge of their reach. Zoroark began to follow and he made a motion with his paw in the opposite direction, hoping that she would understand.

She did and eventually they stood on either side of the Scizor, with a direct line of sight to the machine. He looked over to her and gave a brief nod that she returned to show that she understood his plan and agreed to follow it.

Then leapt with all the strength in his legs at the two red Pokémon, sending them both tumbling to the floor from the force of his leap.

They quickly found themselves in a pile with Ash on top. But the Scizor responded, screaming and struggling with all their might to force him off of them.

Eventually succeeding and getting up in a swift and fluid motion.

Moving to Ash who was still on all fours and striking him in the chest with repeated blows.

The anger that they felt at his assault clouding their vision in a red mist that caused them to strike again and again and again. Even as he lay helpless on the floor.

Pain wrapped around the young boy as he tried to isolate and cut off the feeling of being beaten. Forgetting everything but the desire for the pain to stop.

But then he took a pause when he noticed that the blows had stopped altogether.

He opened his eyes saw Zoroark battling with both of the Scizor fighting them off singled handedly, with a fury that wrapped around her like an endless inferno.

She moved with a deadly grace, ripping past their guards with lethal efficiency and by throwing two Shadow claws to their chests she force a gap in between the Scizor that was big enough for her to rush past them to get to Ash, above whom she stood protectively.

Ash looked up at her; her actions filled with a righteous fury that lifted his heart with affection. His loathing of her turning into a distant memory in light of the battle.

Then he felt his hopes rise even higher at the thought that she had broken the machine. He looked over and saw several scratch marks on the metal structure, but nothing that seemed to penetrate its thick skin to his dread. The black claws around the time ripple were left untouched.

The Scizor reformed, a little shaken by Zoroark's onslaught, but bearing very little lasting damage.

He was a trainer. Ash racked his memory about advantages that could be had against Scizor but came up empty. Tried to recall any Scizor he had faced off against in the past, only to fail.

Then the Voice spoke up to answer his unasked question, "They have a metallic alloy infused with their shells that make them tough to beat. So unless you got fire you'll find that you can throw them around a lot, but they'll keep on coming back for more."

Ash heard a groan and saw Kodai getting up off of the ground from near the machine. He was clutching his face in his hands. Which he then lowered to show three bleeding lines stretching from side to side. It took a moment for Ash to realise what had happened and he looked at Zoroark in shock at the thought of what she had just done.

She was grinning, and his heart shrunk in fear of her fury.

Kodai on the other hand struggled forward and let out an angry grunting sound. He lifted himself up, no longer willing to leave the beasts to their own devices, no longer willing to discuss or negotiate or ignore. He would have a direct hand in removing these… _pests_.

Then, a bright flash of yellow streaked across the field reaching the machine and letting loose a loud '_Boom_!' when it made contact in the form of a loud explosion.

Another beam ripped past the clearing and struck the Scizor with an explosive force that sent them flying from the force.

Then, as the sound dissipated a small yellow dot rushed onto the field towards Zoroark and Ash. Then it stopped and quickly took the shape of Pikachu who stood grinning at them with a wide smile.

"Miss me?" Ash leapt forward, and brought his friend into a bone crushing hug. The two of them spinning around and laughing at the sheer joy of being reunited. Eventually stopping and grinning at each other in congratulations for thwarting destinies plan to split them apart.

Then Ash felt the faint pang of guilt for leaving Pikachu alone to fend for himself in the first place.

"Pikachu?" Zoroark spoke up, interrupting the moment between the two friends, "Where's Zorua?"

Pikachu quickly explained, "Zorua told me that she noticed you, and maybe Ash going to the forest and she worked up a plan." Ash blinked at the thought that Pikachu already knew and had accepted his mistake, "We were trapped in cages and quickly figured out that some crazy person was probably going to try and do something stupid, keeping _us_ locked up to stop us from saving the day!" He turned to the machine, "Didn't realise that it was same bad guy as before."

Ash turned around and took stock of the damage that Pikachu had caused as a result of his surprise attack, with the two Scizor and Kodai, only now managing to lift themselves off of the ground. But then again the machine still only showed superficial signs of damage.

The voice of doubt inside of him castigated Ash for not rushing to attack the machine when he had his opening. But he looked at the disorientated Scizor and realised that there was still time-

"But where is Zorua?" Zoroark asked, momentarily stopping Ash's attempt to call for an attack.

"She's gotten the gang to run around and chase her so that _we_ won't be disturbed." Pikachu responded wasting ever more precious time that their enemies could use to get themselves together again. But Ash was still confident, they now had numerical superiority, the battle was theirs to win.

A bright red light burst forth from Kodai's stumbling form. Slowly forming the imposing figures of two muscle bound Machoke.

The Scizor reformed on either side of them, and Ash realised that they were doomed once again.

"Looks like fun" Pikachu commented before leaping out of Ash's arms and onto the ground, grinning at his trainer as he landed. "I mean, an epic battle with my trainer turned into a Pokémon. This is gonna be awesome!" Ash gave a shaky nod to placate his best friend, but the Pokémon saw through the rouse and told Ash "Don't worry about it, the first battle's always the hardest and we might lose, but that's never stopped us before!" Pikachu grinned at Ash and then turned his attention to their foes.

Ash hardened his heart, knowing that Pikachu was absolutely right. Just because they might lose didn't mean that they should lose heart. What in the world was he thinking about? This was a bad guy who needed to be stopped at all costs. The thought of losing never stopped him before when he was in the safety of the trainer box, why should it stop him now?

Where did this sudden shift in emotions come from?

Then Ash heard Kodai scream, "Attack!"

And turned his head to see the man's Pokémon rush forward, the Scizor quickly flanking the group on either side as the Machoke lunged forward, grappling with Ash and Zoroark.

Ash quickly fell and was subdued by the Machoke's superior strength, but Zoroark broke free.

Pikachu quickly peppered the two Scizor with lightning bolts that kept them at bay, but was then struck from behind by the Machoke.

Zoroark weaved in and out of the Scizor who had found their opening when Pikachu stopped firing but was being constantly pushed back.

And just like that the fight stopped as quickly as it began.

Zoroark was left facing off against the two Scizor as she did at the beginning, Ash was being held down by a Machoke along with Pikachu who tried to shock the fighting type, only to have his strikes grounded the moment he released them.

"Well" Kodai began, revelling in his assured victory, "_this_ is how the world works. Last time you had the help of a bunch of brats. Now you have nothing. Not even one trainer to help organise your mindless rabble."

But that wasn't true… was it?

"You don't stand a chance, do you? But then again, you never did. Your little friends either hate you all, and even if they didn't." He directed his demented gaze at Zoroark "One as _stubborn_ and full of pride as you would never let yourself be dictated by _mere_ humans, would you?" He laughed again as Zoroark snarled.

But Ash was lost in thought. After all despite all the things that Kodai said he knew that _he_ was still a trainer deep down, and there was no reason that he had to stop acting like one. Yes he was a Pokémon now, but _still_, that didn't mean that he couldn't come up with a plan. There had to be _something_, some plan or attack that could get the immense weight of the Machoke off of him and help to turn this battle around.

All he had to do was think. Somewhere inside of his head was the answer to this problem, all he had to do was…

A bright green glow filled the dark field with its eerie glow and stopping his thoughts in their tracks.

It began to glow brighter and brighter and soon everyone's attention turned to the source green light. The time ripple that was still contained within the dark mechanical claws of Kodai's monstrosity.

Zoroark had left it unharmed because it was never a good idea to play with something that may drag you a thousand years into the past. But the light, the light began to fluctuate in intensity like a beating heart. They could feel its power wash over the clearing as time itself was slowly ripped asunder before them.

"Ding" The sound of bells echoed throughout the clearing.

"Ding!" it roared once more, the wind picking up with a ghostly wail.

"Ding!" the light shook violently, as if it too protested at being violated.

"Dang!" roared the off key note, a sound of discord, forcing the light to brighten to a painful degree. Then dim in an instant. Leaving only the ringing of bells and the mesmerising presence of Celebi before it.

Then, as if acting on some unseen signal the claws began to turn alive, grabbing the green fairy tightly in its talons with one violent motion as she screamed and struggled to try and get out.

Kodai laughed the more she struggled, her little legs flying hopelessly above the ground.

Ash tried to move at the desperate sight before them and so did the others, only to find their efforts blocked by the man's Pokémon.

All hope seemed lost.

"No" someone exclaimed.

No one around seemed to have said anything as the girl spoke again, "_no_"

Ash recognised the Voice as that of the person in his head and realised that no one else _could_ hear her.

"Ash you have to help her, you have to" she begged, "just look at her!" and he did, knowing that he was in an impossible situation.

"Please Ash…_please_." She sobbed and the boy felt his heart harden in resolve. She was right. What did he say to himself earlier about not giving up and doing the right thing? He couldn't give up now.

He wouldn't give up now.

He took a moment to calm his body and having done that he tried to look at the situation as if it was any impossible battles he had fought before. Pikachu was trapped, _he_ was trapped, Zoroark couldn't get past the Scizor. But all they needed to do to free Celebi was to get to the machine, so how?

_How_?

He calmed himself down once more and emptied his mind of all distractions. Letting a familiar warmth run through his body, just like it did when he used his first attack.

Then suddenly it all became clear.

He shifted his weight to the slide slightly and kicked the Machoke's leg with his free foot, sending the Fighting type off balance.

Now free he instantly roared into action, rushing forward with all the determination of a sprinter, his legs burning with acid at every stride he made.

Then in a flash one of the Scizor was suddenly by his side and rammed into him then flew through him and into the dirt, Ash's form vanishing in a burst of purple light.

There was a crack and every one turned to the green light to witness a well-placed shadow claw rip through the claws to let Celebi, who was no very weak tumbling into Ash's arms. He smiled at her as she looked up and she smiled back.

It took an instant for Zoroark to realise that Ash had somehow learned how to cast illusions, an instant in which she lunged forward to strike the distracted Scizor who still blocked her path.

Likewise, Pikachu having felt Machoke's weight on him lessen at the distraction leapt forth and freed himself, reengaging in the battle with his former captor.

But Ash was ripped away from the glow of victory by a violent shove to his side. Something black grabbed Celebi and violent barks ripped through the air. Ash was quick to collapse into a roll and bring himself back up to his feet. Alien instincts once again taking hold of the exhausted boy's body.

He reoriented himself and looked forward to meet the dark sight of two black and red dogs with curved silver horns above their heads glaring back at him. Houndoom. They snarled at him, barking curses at him that kept his instincts on edge. He noticed one of them holding something underneath its paws.

Celebi. The dogs picked up on Ash's gaze at the Legendary and took advantage of his concern for her, "Back off _now_ ugly or I _swear_ I'm havin' a bleedin' fairy for dinner tonight!" and acting without hesitation Ash took a step back.

"Back!" They barked once again "Back off into the trees ya hairy slice of piss!" they roared at Ash, dissolving their words into a series of barks that shook Ash to his core.

But he couldn't give in to fear, "Back or your little pixie turns into fertiliser!" their claws gleamed a menacing green in the ethereal light. Ash's heart quivered for Celebi and he dashed into the foliage without question.

But the silence of the forest did nothing to put him at ease. He could feel it, his heart pounding like the tribal drums of war. Pikachu screaming in fury in the distance as the sounds of explosions peppered the air with the sound of his best friends unending wrath.

Then he heard the order, "go after him" and rushed away across a river, to behind a small boulder where he would hopefully remain hidden from any that would attempt to track him. The river perfect to hide his scent from the Houndoom.

He sat down in his little hideaway, letting the exhaustion of battle slowly wash away from him, surprised for a moment that he had managed to last this long in such intense fighting. But then the adrenalin that ran through his system also began to dissipate and the pain that he felt all over his body began to feel more pronounced. From his arms to his chest to his legs dragging him down to near collapse.

But he couldn't let that stop him, he had to help in the battle, he _had_ to find a way to free Celebi.

The odds didn't look too good though. It was six against three, and two of the enemy were completely fresh. Whilst neither Ash nor Zoroark had any clear type advantage against any of their attackers.

"_hey_" Ash froze, battle senses kicking in at the thought that Houndoom had found him already, "wait, it's just me" came the familiar sound of The Voice.

He took a moment to calm down as she spoke, "listen, I think I know something that can help, do you wanna hear me out?" Ash nodded, "right, well we can guess that the puppy's gonna be somewhere around the river. But we can't do much damage to him, so… if we push him we can just let the river carry him off!"

Ash felt disgusted and it showed on his face, "What! It's a good plan! I even know of a way to distract him." The expression on Ash's face didn't change, "pff, alright. How about we use a distraction, then you hit him from behind." He nodded, liking this plan much better.

Simple but effective. "You know I was being sarcastic right? Hitting someone in the back of the head is the worst idea in all of history!" Ash glared into empty space, unwilling to go for the alternative.

"You're impossible you know that?" He continued to glare. "Fine! We'll do it your way."

"Now, about this distraction." She began to explain, "I'm going to need your consent to do something, but if it works, we'll hopefully get an added bonus." Ash cocked his head in puzzlement but then nodded to show his agreement to her request. "Great! Now, I need you to try and remember that feeling you had when you rescued Celebi, okay?" Ash closed his eyes and focused.

Fortunately it wasn't that hard to remember, the sensation still permeating through his being like a friend that had never left him. If she had asked him to describe it he would have said that it was like he was being wrapped up by a warm blanket. Like he was growing bigger and bigger by the second and that as long as he had this _warmth_ around him, he would one day grow to be as tall as a mountain.

"Good, now just take a hold of that feeling for a second… annnd, do you feel that?" Ash nodded feeling something shift inside of him, draining him slightly, but not by much, "_good_. Now, open your eyes."

Ash did so and instantly inhaled through reflex at the sight that bore witness to.

There before him was a… _familiar_ face. A face that almost everyone around the world would recognise from some painting or drawing somewhere. Levitating above the ground with Pink fur and blue eyes adorning a cat like body. "Mew" he breathed out in astonishment.

She giggled, "Yep! Your resident stalking kitten, at your service!" She levitated up and did a loop-de-loop. "Wellll I'm not _exactly_ a Mew. But that's a story for another time." Ash nodded in awe, having not heard a single word that she said "Wow, you're actually looking at me as I talk; this is _sooo_ much better than being stuck as the ghost of Christmas past. But where was I? Oh yeah! Distraction." And just like that, she rushed out to meet the Houndoom.

Ash took a moment to catch up but when he did he leapt to his feet and peered around the rock to see Mew seizing the Houndoom's attention.

"Oooh look, a puppy! Hello there puppy, do you want to see me pout?"

He recognised his cue as the dark type turned his back to him to focus on Mew's dangling tail. Ash felt his heart beat wildly in anticipation and took his opportunity to rush towards the Houndoom with a quiet and speed that made Ash feel like he was a ninja as he extended his arm whilst pushing a torrent of energy into it. Then striking the Pokémon in the back of the head with his shadow claw; knocking it out cold in one hit.

Mew circled around in the air, excited beyond words before she came to a stop before Ash. "That- was- _A_mazing!" she began to spin around in midair, grinning from cheek to cheek.

But then she stopped.

Her look of joy mellowed down and turned to an expression of worry, "right, _Celebi_." Her bright blue eyes stared intently at Ash. "You ready for part two? cos this is going to be hard." Ash nodded resolutely and Mew sighed. "Right, I'll distract the man and the other puppy because right now, I'm just an illusion. I can't touch _anything_ or strike anyone with my non-existent powers."

"But the problem is that _you_ can't do much damage either, so we're going to try something… different." Ash's eyebrow twitched at the mention of the word 'different'. "Don't worry it's not something life changing… well that's not true, it _is_ life changing. But hopefully it'll also provide you with a route back to being a human." Ash's heart leapt at this possibility.

"We can't change you now but… look, just listen to me and _hopefully_ we'll pull through this." Ash nodded to show his consent.

"Right, I just need you to think back into the past and…" She rushed forward into Ash, screaming "_Breakdancingpenguins_!" before stopping inches in front of him with a curious expression upon her face.

Nothing happened for a moment.

Then like a strike of lightning Ash felt pain erupt from all over his body. He felt himself burn, every corner of his body _rip_ apart with the terrible feeling of an intense fire lapping up at him, gnawing at him, tearing him asunder.

His mind felt as if it was engulfed in a never ending storm, tearing into places that he never knew existed. With every strike of lightning an image, a feeling. A face.

_Fire_.

Then suddenly, violently, he was expelled out of the world of pain that had devoured him and gasped, his breathing feeling very dry.

He looked at his arms and saw, instead of the furry paws that he was beginning to grow accustomed to, a pair of silver blades. He looked up to Mew who gazed back at him concernedly.

"Are you alright?" she asked softly.

"I remember" he gasped out in his new, raspier language.

"I know"

"I remember… _everything_."

"I know. I had to free your brain up to help you to reaccess your abilities. You had a lot of dirty laundry in there. Never did figure out how your Amnesia managed to pop up so often."

"I forgot… so much." He gasped as another wave of images rushed by him.

"I know"

"I forgot… _Gods_. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry" he wept, "I'm so sorry for forgetting you, all of you."

"Shuush, it's alright."

"I'm sorry."

"It's alright, come on." Mew soothed, then instead chose to wait for a moment to let Ash weep, despairing at the fact that she was just an illusion. Unable to hold him, or touch him. But quietly glad that he now knew that she was there for him and not just some figment of his imagination. "We still have to save Celebi, come on. We can worry about all that stuff later."

Ash sighed, and tried to compose himself. To take this onslaught on his sanity, the hundreds and hundreds of questions that had been thrown at him by the countless hidden memories he had just unearthed from the deepest recesses of his mind and place them in somewhere where they could lay dormant, but not forgotten. Waiting patiently until Celebi was free.

With an audible sigh he stood and began to walk forward, feeling stronger than before, now that all of the distractions that had plagued him had been put to rest. All that mattered was helping Celebi. Zoroark was on his side, Pikachu was on his side and so were all of his friends and Mew. Now was not the time to question any of that. Not when greater things were at stake.

The forest was bathed in moonlight, but in the distance, away from the river behind him was the green glow of the battle field from where echoed the sounds of thunder.

Ash began to run, awkwardly at first, but he quickly remembered the lessons that Scyther had taught him and he angled himself to pick up some acceleration until he was able to watch the clearing clearly from a distance.

The battle had toned down in tempo. The two sides now more reliant on dodging and outmanoeuvring their foes as opposed to before when they made use of as much force as possible.

Pikachu had the task of trying to keep the two Machoke busy, his smaller frame easily weaving in and out of the two behemoths as they tried to catch him. Zoroark on the other hand was tied in what looked like an intricate dance with the two Scizor, effortlessly parrying and dodging their blows with the elegance of a dancer.

He turned his gaze towards Kodai whose scars had stopped bleeding, looking on at the battle with frustration, not saying a single word to command his Pokémon as Ash had expected him to. Then over to Houndoom who was still holding the whimpering Celebi under its paws.

"I figured that he'd need Houndoom to hold Celebi since we broke his machine." Mew remarked.

But something was still off about the scene, something important… was Houndoom a bit bigger than the last one? He looked down at himself.

_oh no_.

He was a child again. Dread returned as the endeavour he had to overcome seemed to grow even larger in scale.

Mew just turned to him and grinned before rushing out. He panicked and moved himself to a good ambush position as all the combatants turned their attention to the intruder.

"Mew!" Kodai shouted. "What are you doing here?"

"No!" Celebi screamed, "Run away before he gets you! _Getout getout getout_!"

Ash readied himself and reached deep down like he did when he was a Zoroark. In one swift, almost unnoticeable motion his abdomen lowered, his wings became primed and his legs shifted.

He felt the power flow to his blade. He crouched, jumped and sent a jolt of energy to his wings, sending him rocketing forward in a flash.

When it was over he turned back to see that Houndoom had collapsed from the force of his slash.

He rushed towards Celebi who struggled to get back up into the air and held her close to his chest with the flats of his blades.

Ash turned to Pikachu and Zoroark, letting out a brief smile as they looked on in shock. Having taken out their opponents during Mew's distraction.

"Hi guys" he said. Their widening eyes telling him that they realised just who he was.

"No." He heard someone growl.

Ash turned his head to see Kodai angrily marching forward, his face twisted in rage as he roared, "NO!" not willing to let this little _brat_ tear his victory away from him.

Ash held Celebi tightly in fear of the demonic visage Kodai's face took on.

He charged into Ash who then stumbled backward from the force of the man's strike. The three of them suddenly lost their footing and stumbled backwards, falling into the time ripple with a scream.

They vanished into nothingness, along with the green glow of the time ripple and in their wake the clearing was filled with the sound of bells.

* * *

_._

_Well congratulations, you've made it to the end! Have some cake. :)_

_As you've guessed this is the end of the ark and a fairly big one if I do say so myself. _

_I tried to get some semblance of a deeper plot what with the parallels drawn between Kodai and Zoroark and the __the folly of obsession__. Did you see any of that? _

_no_…

_Oh, well I_ tried_ anyway. _

_As always I'd love to read your reviews. My glass of meme juice is starting to run out so I may be stuck taking longer when releasing (mainly in the planning department). Or I might just Let loose shorter chapters. As always you guys hold some sway over the stuff I'm indifferent on. So review and hopefully I'll see you guys in the next chapter._


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